WHAT 

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Italy Uncovered - new plays from Italy is a festival of contemporary Italian dramaturgy that will take place at the Theatre503 in London on 17th and 18th of November. 

The festival was conceived by Edward Fortes, Anna Landi and Camilla Brison.

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Italy Uncovered aims to introduce the UK to a new generation of Italian playwrights still unknown to UK audiences. The festival seeks to broaden British understanding of the current state of Italian new writing, moving beyond prevailing stereotypes and well-known playwrights of the past.

 

IU therefore acts as an artistic meeting between two cultures, involving British translators, directors and actors with the aim of establishing regular artistic exchange between the two countries’ young playwrights, of which this festival is the first step.

 

BACKGROUND

 

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a group of Italian artists interested in emerging Italian playwrights came together to consider what the crisis meant for European identity – particularly for a country like Italy, often considered among a subset of ‘less developed’ southern EU nations.

 

This led to the establishment of an ongoing, itinerant playwriting workshop – entitled simply, Crisi (“crisis”, or even “crises”, in English) conducted by Italy’s foremost contemporary playwright, Fausto Paravidino, at the Teatro Valle Occupato in Rome. The group sought to bring together the most talented young playwrights in Italy, offering them a space to share their work with actors, directors and audiences.

 

While not all of the Italy Uncovered authors came to our attention through Crisi, the energy and dynamism of the workshop played a central role in our desire to set up the festival and bring these plays to the attention of UK audiences.

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PRODUCTION AND SPONSORS

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Italy Uncovered is produced by Uvaspina Production. The 2019 Festival edition is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Other partners of the festival are: the Italian Cultural Institute London, University College London Italian Department, the British-Italian Society and Italy’s foremost playwriting award, the Premio Riccione.

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