Gentle Unicorn is the culmination of your work on the political body which started in 2013. How did you settle on this theme?

When I went from being a performer to creating my own projects, something bothered me in the way I was viewed by audiences, producers, and journalists. The discourse always focused on the shape of my body rather than on my work, with no consideration for how that might affect me. It was really brutal. I particularly remember one review that described me as a “broken doll” even though my piece was about love and other things important to me then as a young woman of 22. Why was the meaning others gave to my work so far removed from the meaning that I gave it myself? Then the Arab Spring erupted, and I had a long conversation with an artist friend in Egypt who had seen an old woman taking part in a demonstration. He found that very powerful, because normally she would not be visible, she would be staying at home. That woman probably didn’t think that her body was so significant, but he was filled with love when he spoke of it. I realized that people’s gaze was maybe not so negative, and rather than letting the world interpret me, I could show it how to understand me and shape the image it would have of me.

Speaking of image, you’ve said that Gentle Unicorn is your portrait and your passport. What is the connection between you and a unicorn?

This work contains the essence of my view, my poetry, my approach, the message that I try to convey on stage and in the world. As an Italian, I tend to think that everything stems from Ancient Greece and mythology. The unicorn is like fake news from that era: she was a story made up by a traveller returning from India. Since then, she has been associated with female virginity, with the devil, with paganism; she appears in Catholic and Muslim iconography; she’s a symbol of the LGBTQ movement... Ultimately, she’s like me: everyone projects whatever they want onto her but never ask what she is, how she is, or what she wants. Sometimes I think I’m doing the same thing by choosing to put her at the heart of my work and embody my questions, but I wanted to give her the ability to choose and I really love her.

As research for the piece, one of the questions I asked was, “What would you do if you opened the door of your house and found yourself face to face with a unicorn?” The answers varied, but almost everyone mentioned being afraid. That’s a shame, because maybe she just wants some company. This scenario echoes the difficulty that people have approaching someone with a disability. I understand the militant attitude which says it’s not up to us to figure out how to facilitate the encounter for others. But practically speaking, if someone has no idea what a disability is, like a unicorn, what can we do? The dramaturgical basis of Gentle Unicorn is sharing responsibility for the relationship with the audience. I’ll approach someone if I feel that he’s open to it. If I feel that someone is reluctant, I’ll move elsewhere. That’s why the work has different shades. Sometimes it’s funny and people laugh; sometimes, it’s very serious...

What principles do you follow when performing the work each evening?

My route is very precise, and the points where I will interact with the audience are planned, but my physical gestures are created in real time. We developed an extensive set of gestures so that I would feel confident in situations of all kinds. I’m very attentive to the faces, postures, and micro-movements of people in the audience. Bodies say a lot. Each person is conducting a physical monologue, with which I try to engage. I try to take each person’s temperature and choose either to change it a little or ignore it. I can also be completely transformed by someone with very strong energy. I try not to linger on the connection with one person, even if it’s strong, and also to build relationships between audience members. For example, if I stay on one side for a long time, a part of the audience will only see my back, so for them, the show will become the faces and gazes of those looking at me from the front. Sometimes connections develop between people in the audience just as they develop with me. I love it when that happens.

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