Tales of June
© Caterina DE BARTOLO
Program Information
| Genre / Country | Theatre / ITALY |
|---|---|
| Dates | 1 May at 20:00 |
| Venue | At Ellipse Theatre “DAENDO”, Shizuoka Performing Arts Park |
| Duration | 90 minutes |
| Language | In Italian with Japanese subtitles and interpretation |
| seat | Reserved seat |
| Conceived, directed and performed by | Pippo DELBONO |
Introduction
A natural-born storyteller, the Italian director and actor
Pippo DELBONO minutely analyses the world with this “Tales of June.”
In that play, the only props are a chair and a table with a bottle of beer on it. Sitting there on the stage, DELBONO then starts to talk about all kinds of topics, such as personal memories, old legends, allegories and famous poems about freedom and love — while also insisting on his resistance to the powers that would suppress such things. In talking about his private matters, though, he relates them to human’s universal memories and sorrows in ways that touch the hearts of every member of the audience. Now, following the great reputation he built up with “War” and “Silence,” his debut productions for SPAC in 2007, DELBONO is all set for the Japan premiere of “Tales of June” at the World Theatre Festival Shizuoka 2017 in a once-only performance at SPAC’s tranquil Daendo Theatre.
Synopsis
DELBONO was born into a pious Catholic family in a small village in northwest Italy, where his first public performance was as the Christ-child in its church’s Nativity play. Despite becoming addicted to drugs as a youth due to the influence of his boyfriend, he is drawn to theatre to express his love of life. However, after his lover dies in a motorbike accident and DELBONO finds he has contracted AIDS, he becomes haunted by a fear of death. Then he meets a deaf, mute and blind man named Bobo, who he helps to leave the mental hospital where he’s been confined for 45 years. After the pair set out on a journey to DELBONO’s home village, they unexpectedly find new worlds one after another along the way.
Director’s Profile
Pippo DELBONO
Born in 1959, in Varazze (Italy). Author, actor, and director. At the beginning of the 80’s he founds the Compagnia Pippo Delbono, creating most of his works with them, from “Il Tempo degli Assassini” (1987) to “Vangelo” (2015). He does not stage plays but, rather, total creations, devised with a stable group of actors whose number has grown through the years. The encounter with socially marginalized people determines a turning point in his poetical research: that’s how “Barboni” (1997) was born. Some of these actors – including Bobò, deaf-mute, who had been kept in an asylum in Aversa, near Naples, for forty-five years – have kept working with the company and are still a central part of this experience. Beside theatre performances, DELBONO has developed his research also into music, creating some concerts with extraordinary musicians (“Amore e cane”, “Il Sangue”, “Bestemmia d’amore” and “La notte”), and into cinema, both as director and as actor. The works have been performed worldwide in more than fifty countries, in theatres and festivals, including the Festival d’Avignon, Festwochen in Wien, Venice Biennale, etc. Several theatres, including the Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris, have shown retrospectives of his work and co-produced his creations in the past years.
Cast / Staff
Conceived, directed and performed by Pippo DELBONO
Production: Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione and Compagnia Pippo Delbono
