2017 – Italian Theatre Double Bill

 

Growl Theatre and Danteatro Brisbane present an Italian language double bill (with English surtitles). The production consisted of two one act plays: L’uomo nudo e l’uomo in frak (One Was Nude and One Wore Tails) and Il carnevale degli insetti (Carnival of the Insects).

Directors
Matteo Melzi & Eleonora Ginardi

PERFORMANCE DATES
20, 21, 22, 27, 28 October 2017

As part of celebrations for the 17th International Italian Language Week … Under the patronage of the President of the Italian Republic.

One Was Nude and One Wore Tails
In this short and surprising farce by Dario Fo (winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1997) we get caught up in a sequence of events that upset the monotonous everyday life of a humble streetcleaner, as he starts to reconsider his social position in this crazy world. The farce begins with a deep philosophical conversation between two street cleaners on life and the human condition, which leads one of them to believe that he is not just a rubbish collector but perhaps God personified! But will this be any use to him when he has to deal with a naked man hidden in his bin? The naked man in question is an aristocrat, usually elegantly dressed in top hat and tails, but his decisions in life – which have brought about this sneaking into the bin and hiding among the street rubbish – suggest he is perhaps not so different from everyone else.

 


Carnival of the Insects
Carnival of the Insects is a celebration that turns the world upside down. It is told from the perspective of insects: cockroaches, bees, butterflies, mosquitoes and spiders share their personal journeys of pain and love, offering insight into their coexistence with us, and thus into many of today’s global environmental and political concerns. Contemporary Italian author Stefano Benni applies his characteristic irony and wit so that, in this insect society, laughter becomes an antidote to human cruelty.