Partita

The world is in crisis, two magi summon artists to their mansion for a ritual of healing through art. Disguised as servants, they guide the creation of performances to spiritually restore humanity in a magical act of artistic intervention. The planet is in a parlous state of polycrisis: war, environmental cataclysms, deadly pandemics, proliferation of nuclear weapons, social discord, intractable political and ideological divisions. Two aristocratic magi - husband and wife - plan to repair the world through a magical artistic ceremony. They 12 invite singers, instrumentalists, and dancers to their Palladian mansion in the Irish countryside to enact this experiment of healing. Time is of the essence; they have 24 hours to coalesce these individual performers into a cohesive unit and create the ritualized performances that, on a spiritual level, will palliate the soul of the world. The magi disguise themselves as liveried servants, waiting on the artists, tending to household chores in their art-filled baroque mansion, while stealthily manipulating the proceedings. Visions of apocalyptic doom and rebirth envelop the mansion. As the day turns to night a magic spell is placed on the artists who become entranced and enact a series of sublime late-night performances. As dawn approaches the artists perform a great fugue of reconciliation and renewal. Transformed, they leave the estate. —Director