About Us
ENGLISH THEATRE MILAN - A NEW ENGLISH SPEAKING THEATRE COMMUNITY
English Theatre Milan (ETM) is a non-profit association that was set up in July 2019. ETM aims to bring top quality theatre in English to Milan with established professionals from the UK and elsewhere.
So far we have worked with theatres, such as Filodrammatici, Gerolamo, Litta and Milan’s iconic Piccolo Teatro. In 2023, we made an agreement with Teatro Menotti, to perform two shows in March and April. In 2024, Our inhouse production, Shelley, A Diet for Peace played at the Puntozero Theatre, situated inside Milan’s Beccaria Youth Detention Centre. We have collaborated with institutions, like Milan University, British Council,Umanitaria, and currently run our Shakespeare workshop at the All Saints’ Church. Since 2024 Milan City Council have assigned ETM two venues: CAM Garibaldi and CAM Gabelle, where we run theatre workshops, whose target audience is especially young people. We produce our own plays, involving professional and non-professional native speakers of English and bilingual actors. ETM curates and promotes activities, such as open rehearsals, meetings with authors and companies, creative writing and performance workshops and masterclasses, run by established practitioners. Our most recent inhous productions: Romeo Montague: Innocent or Guilty? premiered in November 2024 at Cam Gabelle, while Shakespeare Greatest Hits is currently in development, with school shows planned for the autumn of
2025.
Bringing English Theatre to the City of Milan through Innovative Projects
We are developing a challenging, innovative, entertaining and educational schools project, involving theatre makers from the UK, Italy and elsewhere.We hope that many people, who enjoy the shows, will want to get involved in our other activities and decide to become ETM members. In 2022, our members numbered around 45, including Brits, Italians,American, Irish, Germans, almost all living in Milan and
Lombardy. Members pay a modest annual fee, which, along with donations from supporters and ticket sales, allows us to run our activities. Members enjoy special discounts on our initiatives. We welcome members of all ages and backgrounds, with a specific focus on young people. Our association aims to create an English-speaking theatre community, based on the active participation of its members.Since we do not have our own theatre, ours is a theatre without walls that operates in a variety of theatres throughout the city, site specific venues and two Milan city council venues PUT NEW NAMES. ETM’s website and a Newsletter, which goes out to around 860 people,keep its members and followers up to date with forthcoming events and shows. We invite members to contribute with their suggestions and ideas.
OUR MOST SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR
- We have run two successful showcases at Milan’s Gerolamo theatre, in 2019 and 2022, bringing plays from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to Milan. For details, see our Productions page.
We were among the first practitioners during lockdown to produce online shows: for Shakespeare’s Conflict Zones, we involved professional actors from around the world, including two who have worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company; we also developed
an online version of the 19th century farce, Box and Cox, with a Scottish cast. The latter visited the Space during the Edinburgh online Fringe in 2021: to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, together with poet Stephen Sexton of Queen’s University, Belfast, we devised an online show, Reading and Chanting Dante, including a narrative and fragment’s of Dante’s Inferno, in English, Italian and Sardinia. - Established UK professionals like Gareth Armstrong, Anna Marie di Mambro, Tim Hardy, Guy Masterson, Bianca Mastrominico-JohnDean, and Matthew Zajac have led masterclasses on a variety of topics: performing, directing and producing one-person shows, writing for television and developing online plays.
- A rehearsed reading of Sal Cabras’s play, Lovely Dark and Deep, an adaptation of the eponymous short story by Joyce Carol Oates, at CAM Garibaldi. The celebrated American author took part in a post- performance discussion.
- ETM have invented and curated the first Shakespearean theatrical walk in Milan: A Stroll with Miranda and Prospero in Shakespeare’s Milan
- This Courtroom play, Romeo Montague: Innocent or Guilty?, directed by Claudio Favazza, puts Shakespeare’s Romeo on trial,according to judicial procedures in 2018. The format is an original one, mixing professional actors and students. Performances and post-performance discussions can take place in any classroom around the city.
The 2023 season
- In March we presented award-winning actor Gerard Logan’s Night Terrors at the five-hundred seater Teatro Menotti , with a matinee performance, which was almost completely sold out, for secondary school students and two evening performances for a general
audience - In April we presented our inhouse production, Sal Cabras’s Hilde. Living without Love, directed by Marina Bianchi. Cristina Ferraioli as Hilde and Daniele Bettini on the piano. Songs by Marlene Dietrich,at Teatro Menotti.
- In April the ETM inhouse production of Shakespeare’s As You Like it, with music and songs, played at Casa Alda Merini and All Saints’ Church. This reduced version of Shakespeare’s comedy has an all-female cast.
The 2024 season
- In February, we expanded our school network, presenting our inhouse production, Maggie Rose’s Shelley A Diet for Peace, with Conrad Williamson as Percy Bysshe Shelley, at Casa Alda Merini and at the Punto Zero Theatre inside Milan’s Beccaria Juvenile Detention
Centre. About 200 secondary school students attended the performance which was followed by a discussion, involving actor Conrad Williamson and food and sustainability specialist, Doctor Maria Salome Gachet Otanez. - In June, we presented our inhouse production of The Tempest in Milan at the Filodrammatici theatre, to an audience of all ages. The cast included professionals and non-professionals, from the UK and America, and others from different parts of the world.
- In June, we presented Hilda de Felice and Lorenzo Novani’s Loving the Enemy, at the Filodrammatici theatre. The play is part of ETM’s Italian-Scottish connections.
- In June the theatrical promenade, A Stroll with Miranda and Prospero in Shakespeare’s Milan, with Irene Panni as Trinculo,premiered in Milan. In November it was performed for a group of Italian and German secondary students, engaged in an Erasmus Plus
Programme. - A rehearsed reading of Sal Cabras’s play, Lovely Dark and Deep, an adaptation of the eponymous short story by Joyce Carol Oates, at CAM Garibaldi. David Wayne Callahan as Robert Frost and Madeline Wolf as the Journalist. The celebrated American author took part in a post- performance discussion.
- In November, Romeo Montague: Innocent or Guilty?, directed by Claudio Favazza, , premiered at CAM Gabelle, for a general audience, including international students from Milan’s Bicocca University.
- In December Dana Rufolo’s play, Your Words inside my Body, at CAM Gabelle. David Wayne Callaghan as James Joyce and Franciska Wagner as Lucia Joyce.
The 2025 season
- In March, A Stroll with Miranda and Prospero in Shakespeare’s Milan, with Irene Panni as Trinculo, was performed twice in March for secondary school students from the Liceo Vittorio Veneto. An ETM inhouse production.
- In April, Romeo Montague: Innocent of Guilty?, directed by Claudio Favazza, with Simone Buzzi, Giulia Sarah Gibbon, Verlie Anne Jones, Madeline Wolf, was performed at Milan University for an audienceof students and secondary school teachers; the latter are
interested in taking the show into their schools. A post-performance
discussion. - In April, Sal Cabras’s Hilde. Living without Love, directed by Marina Bianchi, with Cristina Ferrajoli as Hilde and Daniele Bettini, on the piano. Songs in German by Marlene Dietrich. An ETM inhouse production at CAM Garibaldi.
- In May, Romeo Montague: Innocent or Guilty? is performed for teachers, who are interested in inviting the show to their schools in the autumn and spring of 2026.
- In May and June, Romeo and Juliet in Greencity, an inhouse production, deriving from this year’s Shakespeare workshop,premieres at Milan’s Pacta theatre and in a garden (STC). The cast is a mix of professionals and non-professionals, including teenagers
and adults. - In June, American academic and actor Joseph Falocco performs Prospero in A Stroll in Shakespeare’s Milan. A Promenade Performance.
- In June ETM members and friends attend a meeting with celebrated UK playwright Simon Stephens on Writing for the Stage. In collaboration with Lyra theatre.
- In June the ETM inhouse production, Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, is performed for a general audience and teachers, who are interested in inviting the show to their schools in the autumn and spring of 2026.
- We wish to extend our schools network and are seeking new partners.
The 2025\26 season
NEW SHAKESPEARE WORKSHOP. A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.
See ETM website for details Starts on 24 September through to end of May.
SHOWS in the present season
- A Stroll with Miranda and Prospero in Shakespeare’s Milan, with Irene Panni as Trinculo, is available. This site-specific theatrical walk is suitable for a general audience, as well as secondary school and university students. An ETM inhouse production. AVAILABLE OCTOBER TO JUNE.
- Romeo Montague: Innocent of Guilty? directed by Claudio Favazza, with Simone Buzzi, Giulia Sarah Gibbon, Verlie Anne Jones, Nicholas Redding, Madeline Wolf, and others. The play is suitable for secondary school and university students. A workshop- performance format is available, which includes six students in the performance. The show is followed by a post-performance discussion. AVAILABLE OCTOBER TO JUNE.
- Hilde. Living without Love by Sal Cabras, directed by Marina Bianchi, with Cristina Ferrajoli as Hilde and Daniele Bettini, on the piano. Performance in Italian and songs in German by Marlene Dietrich. An ETM inhouse production. The play, in its third season, is available for touring. AVAILABLE FROM OCTOBER TO JUNE.
- Romeo and Juliet in Greencity, directed and adapted by Maggie Rose, was performed at Milan’s Pacta theatre, All Saints’ Church and at Ortimisti. This reduced version has a cast of professionals and non-professionals, including David Callahan, Caroline Westcombe, Sinimari Mantynen, Paola Montevecchi, Ariana Muraru, Ilaria Porta, Andrea Rizzotti, Fabio Slesio, AVAILABLE NOVEMBER TO JUNE.
NEW INHOUSE and JOINT PRODUCTIONS
- Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits. Cast: Simone Buzzi, Kizzy Kaye, Candice Lam, Irene Panni, Nicholas Redding, Madeline Wolf. The play will be performed from November to June for a general audience. Teachers, who are interested in inviting the show to their schools, this autumn and spring 2026, should come to see a performance.
- Two Sisters. Shakespeare’s Daughters by Maggie Rose, a joint production of English Theatre Milan, Green Shakespeare, Stratford Shakespeare Company. Cast: Catherine Farrell and Rachel Gilmour. Available in late April (dates still to be defined).
OFFICE HOURS
Every Wednesday from 4 to 6pm. Casa del Quartiere, still to be defined.
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Who we are
discover our Team
Melissa is a performer, director, and theatre administrator specializing in communication, education and production. Born and raised in California, USA, she received her B.F.A. in Theatre Performance and B.A. In Italian Language and Culture simultaneously from Chapman University. She then went on to earn her Masters in Performing Arts Management from Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. In the past she's worked with associations such as Teatro alla Scala and Milano Off Fringe Festival, and she currently collaborates with Piccolo Teatro di Milano. For more information, check out her website at https://melissalmarino.com/
Melissa MarinoArtistic Coordinator/ Board Memebr 
Madeline is a performer and teaching artist who came to Milan in 2019. After graduating with a BFA in acting from Carnegie Mellon University, she moved to New York where she acted in projects including Fun Home on Broadway, Julius Caesar with Pocket Universe off-broadway, and the series Outsiders on WGN America. As a teacher, she has worked at Brooklyn Acting Lab, Istituto San Giuseppe, and in 2023 will begin teaching theatre and acting classes at public schools and acting academies in Milan. For more information, please visit her website www.madelinewolf.net.
Madeline WolfBoard Member 
Caroline,
Born in Kent, trained at the Urdang Academy of Ballet and Performing Arts, then later at the Royal Ballet School. She joined the Corps de Ballet of Teatro alla Scala in Milan at the age of 18, where she enjoyed a fulfilling career until retiring from performance at 47. She is now exploring all other aspects of theatre, with a particular interest in the physicality of actors and the expressive potential of movement on stage.
CAROLINE LOUISE WESTCOMBEboard member and dance specialist 
Hugo is an Irish writer and journalist living in Italy for 15 years, covering food and travel as well as current affairs for a variety of international newspapers and publications.
Hugo had a former life as an actor when living in Dublin, spending nearly two years acting professionally (mostly in theatre, but he has credits in television and in feature films.) He also studied film-making in his early twenties.
After many years away from his acting interests, Hugo decided to return to drama after the pandemic, realising that it was something that always brought him great joy and satisfaction.
Hugo continues to develop numerous scripts that he has written, and collaborates with acting groups in Milan. “I’m grateful to be part of a community of actors who like to work in my native tongue,” he says. “Self-expression through drama has been and is an important part of my identity, and returning to it has given me more than I thought it would. Anyone who has moved to a country where you don’t speak the language and operate as an outsider, I’m sure can relate.”
Hugo McCaffertyBoard Member 
Orla is Irish-born, studied modern languages in the UK and has been living in Italy for over 30 years.
After a first career as a European linguist in the Civil Service, Orla moved into the financial
services sector, where she managed a series of start-ups for British and American companies
entering the Italian market. For the past 13 years she has been working on antifraud solutions in the insurance and banking sectors.
She is a Non-Executive Director of Standard Ethics, an independent London-based agency operating in the world of sustainable finance and ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance), and acts as a consultant for the government agency Enterprise Ireland, assisting Irish companies enter the Italian market. Orla loves theatre as well as singing and hiking.
Orla RalphBoard Member 
Read interviews and articles about us on Plays International & Europe or download the PDF.
Testimontials of ETM
“I was thrilled and honoured to be invited to present several shows in Italy with English Theatre of Milan in several beautiful theatres - Filodramatici and Teatro Litta and Teatro Gerolimo with The Devil’s Passion, Shylock, A Christmas Carol and Scaramouche Jones, and to work so closely with Julia, Margaret and Sal and to sample the delights of Milan and their wonderful hospitality. It really is a pleasure to bring theatre to a cultured and diverse audience that loves the English language in all its glory!”
Guy Masterson
director, actor and dramatist
Having been fortunate enough to act and direct in several other European cities with a flourishing English Theatre, it was a real pleasure to be in at the launch of Milan’s enterprise. Visiting the city again, with my production of “My Darling Clemmie” at the exquisite Gerolamo Theatre, I was reminded what a vibrant theatre scene and what responsive audiences the city has to offer. I am sure the MET (or whatever the right acronym might be?) will go from strength to strength.
It was a great pleasure for me to be invited to present a masterclass with The English Theatre of Milan. Maggie Rose, Sal Cabras and their colleagues have a deep knowledge and understanding of theatre and how & why it works. They are erudite, serious and also blessed with a great sense of humour! I am very impressed with the high level of professionalism they approach their work with, and by the excellent quality of those who subscribed to the masterclass. While I was very happy to be given this opportunity, I received great rewards through the perceptive responses of the participants. I would recommend this experience to any other theatre practitioner.
Matthew Zajac
actor and producer
