Moray to Milan

NICK FEARNE reports from Charioteer Theatre’s latest foray to Milan

IN MILAN there is the Piccolo Theatre – something of a misnomer since Piccolo is anything but, and comprises three different theatre buildings, with the main house, Teatro Strehler, seating about 1400. In the foyer area of Teatro Strehler is a small space, Scatola Magica – The Magic Box – seating just under 100 and home to Charioteer Theatre’s visiting production of Romeo and Juliet – are dead.

So how did a company based in Forres end up performing in Milan? Charioteer Theatre was founded by Laura Pasetti. Laura is Italian and continues to work in Italy and has strong links with Piccolo. Piccolo were looking for a three-handed version of Romeo and Juliet for Italian school pupils and Charioteer was invited (having successfully staged Beckett’s Happy Days there in 2006) to take up the challenge. Having supported and championed Charioteer since its creation, Laura asked if I would like to adapt the text.

Piccolo Teatro Strehler by night in Milan

The company flew out to Milan on 12 January, and I joined them to see their opening performances on 15 and 16 January. The company will return to Moray on 12 February, having given 53 performances to nearly 5,000 school pupils. Once back in Scotland the production has a short tour to Highland and North East venues.

So, it’s 9.45 in the morning, time for the first performance. Laura has briefed the audience in Italian before they come in to find Juliet (Lorna Craig) already dead on stage. The performance is in English with links in Italian supplied by Mercutio (Alan Alpenfelt, also playing Nurse and Friar Lawrence).

What a find Alan is – his mother lives near Tain but he lives in Milan and is completely fluent in Italian! His Nurse goes down a storm, and even Frate Lorenzo gets a laugh for his Latin blessings. Romeo (Scott Kyle) does the balcony scene sitting in the audience causing most of the girls to swoon.

The cast have had two days to rehearse in the space and set up lights and sound. However, the stage is too low, meaning that the death scene can’t be seen more than a few rows back. Having been told before our arrival that the stage had to be this height, it is miraculously raised 20cm for Friday’s performances. The techies are great.

Scatola Magica - Magic Box

That evening the company goes to a local bar for happy hour (that lasts from 6-9pm!) – the deal being that you pay 5 Euro for a drink and food is free! It’s buffet-style, eat as much as you want of good Italian dishes. So that’s my evening meal for a fiver, and now I’ve got a comp for the main house production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s in Italian but that’s okay, because I know the story and have recently played Bottom in a production in Dingwall. A very interesting production and no expense spared on the design, which flies and tracks scenery in from all angles.

Friday there are three performances. I skip the 9.45am, having only got back from last night’s ‘Dream’ at past midnight. I take a leisurely walk to the Duomo, stopping off in a bar for an Italian breakfast of a latte and a brioche. It’s a cold, sunny morning at the Duomo and the cathedral looks stunning. I wander into the Galleria, the ornate and expensive shopping arcade – and there they are, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vitton and McDonalds!

Back at the Magic Box the stage is still not high enough. A box will have to be built to represent the tomb. The second performance is a challenge – a very talkative audience that doesn’t seem to have been briefed by their teachers.

Time for lunch. The theatre has a subsidised café but it’s time to get out and mingle with the Milanese. Everywhere you turn there are inviting bars, cafes and trattorias. I take a table in one. It’s bustling with lunchtime trade – busy workers but still able to enjoy good food, quickly served in convivial surroundings and not at rip-off prices. Not Scotland, then.

Death of Mercutio: Scott Kyle (Romeo, kneeling), Alan Alpenfelt (Mercutio, dying) and Lorna Craig (in picture as Tybalt but plays Juliet)

Back in the box it’s the third performance of the day. In contrast to the morning the audience is completely drawn into the production. The cast go off for a well earned birra and the tomb has appeared! That was quick but could have been done from the start. A quick rehearsal will be needed on Sunday (no Saturday performances – Sunday is football, theatre and church) to work out the mechanics of getting the structure on and off, and Italian TV are coming too.

So now it’s my moment to give a talk to Italian teachers on adapting the text – fortunately, Laura is there to interpret. The talk is scheduled for 5pm on a Friday evening – and there are 40 teachers there. Not Scotland, then. It goes well, they even get my jokes, and they are happy to stay and talk afterwards. I get talking to a female student teacher about the impact David Beckham has made at AC Milan. He’s playing like a star, is so gentlemanly and she hates Inter – ’Two households, both alike in dignity…..’

So, that’s the end of my short stay and I get up at 4am on Saturday morning. It’s too early for the city’s excellent transport system of trams, buses and metro to be running, so I walk through Milan to catch the 5am train out to the airport. It’s freezing and planes queue up to have their wings de-iced before flying over the snow-covered Alps. Kaka has chosen Milan over Manchester… who wouldn’t.

Romeo and Juliet – are dead is touring in Scotland from 20-28 February 2009. Contact nick.fearne@moray.gov.uk or admin@charioteertheatre.co.uk for details of tour dates

Nick Fearne is Arts Development Officer for Moray Council

© Nick Fearne, 2009