«Cassius Clay is a slave’s name. I didn’t choose it, and I don’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name. It means ‘beloved of God’. I insist people use it when talking to me and about me». Cassius Clay’s famous words began the celebrated boxing champion’s transfiguration into a 20th-century icon. Francesco Di Leva, recently awarded the David di Donatello for his performance in Mario Martone’s Nostalgia, and director Pino Carbone recreate the fighter-poet’s story on stage: the story of such a highly trained, challenged and acclaimed body that becomes a metaphor about overcoming all limits and about the eternal challenge between willpower and what is actually possible.

by Pino Carbone and Francesco Di Leva
direction Pino Carbone
NEST – Napoli Est Teatro