Piccola Iliade Diario calcistico 1997/1998 – Theatre at Teatro San Materno Copy Copy

(In Italian language)

Written and performed by: Valeria La Bua

Directed by: Chiara Callegari

Costumes and props: Fabrizio Buttiglieri

Lighting and sound design: Giuliano Cannioto

Production: Teatro Libero Palermo

The Diario recounts a young girl's football memories from the 1990s, unfolding into a generational reflection on the condition of women. Although it begins as a story of childhood memories tied to football, the narrative broadens to explore the growth of a female awareness that claims its place in a traditionally male sport. The storytelling plays with truth and invention, creating a work of autofiction in which reality and fiction intertwine, leaving the audience free to choose what to believe. Football is chosen as the central theme for its ritual and identity-forming power. Just as in the Iliad, where Achaean and Trojan heroes fight under the will of the gods, footballers too are portrayed as mythical figures, their deeds charged with symbolism. Football transcends the game to become a genuine cult, with legends such as Maradona taking on the character of pagan saints. Yet the Diario is not only a personal account: it is also a snapshot of a historical moment - Sicily in the 1990s - and of a society in which defeats, more than victories, are what truly teach. In the end, the protagonist discovers that, like war, football remains a world still foreign to women, ultimately clashing with the "girls' rules" imposed by her family and the surrounding culture.