The history of Italian avant-garde theatre dates back decades. The research for new modes of expression have often been conduct- ed under the guidelines of theatre-as-workshop and collective theatre, an ‘open structure’ that would question its own linguistic identity – gesture, word, sound, space all must concur to the show. In Bros, which is touring Italy as we speak, loud noise and gunshots are themselves characters on stage. Says Romeo Castellucci, director, “The audience must be involved emotionally. Every piece of art is a stinger, it must move and touch you. It must tear away at your existence.”

I remember one of his shows in Milan – Castellucci enters stage and states: “My name is Romeo Castellucci”, and right away three dogs attack and maul him. I just love his work.
Coming up in Venice is Domani (lit. ‘tomorrow’), applauded at the Milan Triennale.

The stage is dominated by a taller than ordinary woman, barefoot, clad in pastel pink lycra, her hair drenched in water. Her pupils look white. She steps forward, shakily, a long pole in her hand. Is she a clairvoyant? a diviner? a standard-bearer? Is she the mother of the universe? Or maybe she will lead us, trembling, onto an unknown fate? Ana Lucia Barbosa, 6’8’’ in height, is both the performer in and inspiration for the show. Does the title, tomorrow, hide the key to understanding it? Composer Scott Gibbons gave his best to translate her enigmatic, nervous stride in painfully, acoustically unnerving questions.