The performing arts, or indeed all cultural manifestations produced on a stage, are little more than a game for which we invented the limits and conventions many years ago. Conventions which, albeit only for a few moments, accept that what would be implausible outside this space are transformed into a small miracle thanks to the magic of imagination and the willingness to allow the unreal to be true and for it to be shared for a brief instance.

They say that only children play this game naturally, as their desire for surprise and wholehearted enjoyment of the magic of imagination is absolute, without conditions or determining factors.

We find ourselves in the midst of uncertain times, where the models that until now seemed unchangeable are taking on, at the very least, a dubious consistency, and that everything that was established that assured us some sort of official stability now seem not to have been quite so stable. This makes us resort to pessimistic and catastrophic attitudes which we cannot allow, as they fly in the face of progress and distance us from possible proposals that would bring us closer to resolving the problems facing our society.

It is because of all this that I would like to suggest a game. This summer, when the Festival celebrates its 24th edition, let’s play at being children, let’s complete a very simple and yet complex exercise of allowing ourselves to be led along the paths of the imagination with the innocence of the very young. Let’s be surprised every evening by the magic of the events that make up this year’s programme, designed to give us the elements that enable us to believe once again that with a free and constructive spirit we can change things.

We have worked intensely in this spirit so that you can capture every moment of this Festival in your memory as both a fulfilling and a transforming experience.