Q&A
When did you first go to the theatre?
To see Rigoletto at the Teatro Comunale in Florence on 10 October 1939 for my tenth birthday, with Gino Bechi, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Lina Aimaro and the young Giulietta Simionato as Madelena.
Why did you want to work in the theatre?
In Florence we give out presents for the Epiphany. When I was six there was a wonderful gift for my brother, a model theatre, but I though “This is mine!” It was large, more than a metre wide with 32 different sets. We had to use it for firewood during the war.
Which performers do you remember most from your childhood?
Charlie Chaplin, Eduardo De Filippo, Titina De Filippo, and Jean-Louis Barrault.
Which performance do you remember most from your childhood?
Puss in Boots at Florence’s Teatro della Pergola, in which the 10-year-old Franco Zeffirelli played the Marquis of Carabas.
Which director do you most admire?
Peter Brook.
What theatrical piece that you directed are you most proud of?
The Italian première of Samuel Beckett’s Play (“Commedia”) in 1964, and the first staging of Isac Babel’s Maria; also a production of The Tempest at the Forte di Belvedere in Florence.
What theatre piece would you have liked to direct?
An unrealised dream was to create a ballet based on André Gide’s sublime book La symphonie pastorale with Carla Fracci and Erik Bruhn using, obviously, the music of Beethoven’s symphony, together with Lizst piano transcriptions.… [continue reading]
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