Opera Mundi

The Pioneer 11 spacecraft, sent many years ago beyond the confines of the solar system, unexpectedly returns to planet Earth. It holds a golden plaque, a message in a bottle, to talk of humanity to the unknown inhabitants of other worlds. A very modern contraption to explore, communicate, represent…like an ancient theatrical machine with wooden gears, where smiling children delight in games of shadows. Just like in an opera house of time long past, Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto is on stage. We are at the beginning, the feast of the court, where the jester, who by virtue of his craft must please, makes a mockery of the courtiers, while the duke, lord of the court, an unrestrained libertine, declares his interest in a beautiful stranger.