Lucia
Ronchetti

Anatra al sal is inspired by the late XVIth Century Italian tradition of “madrigale rappresentativo”. Both agogic realism and theatrical characterization of every voice contribute to create a short theatrical work, based on the discussion of some cooks about how to cook a duck.
The sequencing and timing of the dialogues maintain the dramatic atmosphere in which the rhythms naturally change between accelerando (during quarrels) and rallentando (while rejoicing).
In the new version as action concert piece, the writer is on stage together with his characters and moderate the debate asking for selective performances of fragments, and adding improvised spoken dialogues with the cooks.
The cooks have a meeting before the discussion and introduce themselves intoning I Festinanti, from "Festino nella sera del giovedì grasso avanti cena" by Adriano Banchieri.
They put the duck into the oven while performing a Villanella by Orlando di Lasso, in form of gastronomic riddle, Saccio 'na cosa ch'è di legno e tonda
A percussionist represents the assistant of the cooks and does prepare the different sausages, as requested by the cooks, realizing three different intermezzi with a dramaturgical adaptation from Water Walk by John Cage.
The final rejoicing of the cooks when the duck is ready and the right sausage chosen, is marked singing Vinata di brindesi e ragioni, another piece from "Festino nella sera del giovedì grasso avanti cena" by Adriano Banchieri.