Commedia dell'Arte
Commedia at the FringeI developed an interest in commedia dell'arte during my Italian studies at Bristol University and I wrote a dissertation on "Goldoni, Gozzi and the end of the Commedia dell'Arte" in my third year.
I went on to study Commedia at L'Ecole Jacques Lecoq and I took courses with Eugenio Allegri, Antonio Fava and Stefano Perrocco.
I have taught Commedia in theatre schools in the UK and Italy and have written on Commedia dell'Arte for specialist drama publications. I toured England in the summer of 1984 with the Gelati Commedia dell'Arte company directed by Jamie Mcdonald.
I went on to study Commedia at L'Ecole Jacques Lecoq and I took courses with Eugenio Allegri, Antonio Fava and Stefano Perrocco.
I have taught Commedia in theatre schools in the UK and Italy and have written on Commedia dell'Arte for specialist drama publications. I toured England in the summer of 1984 with the Gelati Commedia dell'Arte company directed by Jamie Mcdonald.
I hold a six day residential international workshop at the start of July each year in Turin for a maximum of 12 actors: Commedia dell'Arte - From Training to Performance. This year I will be holding a talk on Commedia dell'Arte and Half-Mask at the Edinburgh Fringe 2024.
I was lucky to have worked with an outstanding mask maker and dear friend Franco Leita and we spent many many hours together working on the features of the main Commedia masks which he would then create in leather.
In May 2024 I directed fourth year students from the Atelier Teatro Fisico of Philip Radice in Turin in Il Vecchio Geloso by Flaminia Scala for ten performances at the Teatro 3D. A chance to discover the roots of commedia dell'arte in the late sixteenth century, performed in Italian.
In July 2023 I began a unique Commedia dell'Arte project:
The Italians in England
THE ITALIANS IN ENGLAND is a three year Commedia dell'Arte project for professional actors who have worked with me over the years. Held in Turin, Italy in commemoration of the great Arlecchino and physical theatre actor Eugenio Allegri to raise funds for the Eugenio Allegri video archive. (Eugenio was Arlecchino with the world famous TAG company from Venice).
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Phase one
Ten professional actors were invited to take part in the Action Theatre International Commedia Dell'arte Week: Training For Performance held from July 3rd - July 8th 2023, directed by Rupert Raison, which resulted in a final open-air workshop performance of the play The Italians in England on a 5x3m Commedia stage in Castiglione Torinese. Samuel Wright, George Mouskoundi, Giacomo Cremaschi, Edoardo Vanoni, Amerigo Calandri, Kuluk Helms, Simona Bisconti, Emanuelle Bains, Juliet Turnbull and Aimee Hislop presented a fresh, amusing show with a great energy. The audience response was terrific, showing that Commedia dell'Arte can still interest a modern day audience.
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Phase two
From Turin to Edinburgh - Commedia at the Fringe. An enlarged international group of mainly Italian and British actors who collaborated with me in 2023 rejoin us in Turin for two weeks to rehearse an updated version of the play The Italians in England working in detail on the choreography, set pieces, mask, lazzi, comedy and ensemble work from July 9th- July 23rd.
The show is being performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from the 2nd to the 24th of August 2024
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Phase three
The aim is to develop a full-length two hour version of The Italians in England for the professional stage.
