Università Roma Tre

The laboratory is organized as a mixed pedagogical situation that alternates stage practice with historical reflection and aims to provide tools to approach the use of the "pre-expressive" moment of the training as a springboard towards the "expressive" dimension that presides over the creation of a performance. The participants must memorize a monologue – of the female or male protagonists – taken from Molière’s Don Giovanni and/or Anton Chekhov’s Platonov. Through the practice of some exercises we will try to walk the path towards the creation and montage of short scenes taken from the two classics of the dramaturgical repertoire. At the same time, we will try to root stage practices in the context of history and theoretical investigation. The practical and historical work will investigate the relation between two plays by Molière and Checov respectively: Don Giovanni and Platonov. The protagonist of what is Checov's first play has often been compared to Don Giovanni and has even been called a second rank Don Giovanni or Don Giovanni of the 19th century. We are interested in the juxtaposition between these two figures because it allows work on scenes and texts that are stylistically and historically very distant. Having already learned by heart one of the monologues of the protagonists of the two plays, we can dwell on the dramaturgy of the actor - term by which we refer to the creative acting process, understood as a compositional task, of weaving and editing, and therefore dramaturgical in the proper sense. Physical and vocal actions will be the focus of study and investigation.
Establishing a bridge with the training work will create scores or sequences of actions related to the monologue and to an object or element of the costume, thus giving life to small scenes.

A prerequisite for participation in this Workshop is the complete reading of two plays:
Anton Cechov, Platonov (recommended edition: Torino, Einaudi, 1959, translation and introduction by Ettore Lo Gatto)
Molière, Don Giovanni (recommended edition: Torino, Einaudi, 1974, translation and critical essays by Cesare Garboli)
Starting from 26 March the 25 participants admitted to the Workshop will receive a selection of monologues taken from the two plays from which they can choose the one they wish to learn by heart by 4 April, starting date of the Workshop.