Teatro Filodrammatici | June 19th, 6:30 pm / 8:30pm
V. Filodrammatici, 6
On the 19th June we’ll be presenting a double bill at Milan’s Filodrammatici, with a short interval between the two shows for a drink at the theatre bar. After the performance of Loving the Enemy, there’ll be a platform discussion with Hilda De Felice and Lorenzo Novani, with drinks and refreshments on request.
To cover the expenses of the two shows, we ask you to make a donation:
The Tempest in Milan (10€) and
Loving the Enemy (15€)
If you wish to see both shows: 20€
Members of ETM: 8€ / 12€ / 2 shows: 15€; Students: 5€ / 8€ / 2 shows: 10€
To book a seat or seats, write to info@EnglishTheatreMilan.org
The Tempest in Milan - 6:30pm
The play explores diversity and exclusion/inclusion, sustainability and the climate emergency, conflict, revenge and reconciliation, making it chime loudly in our contemporary world. Ours is a new abridged version in slightly modernized English (running time approx. 90 mins).
The result of our annual Shakespeare workshop, this Tempest will be the first production of the play in English ever staged in Milan. It features a cast of professionals and non-professionals, mostly mother tongue, from the USA, UK, Ireland, Iran and Italy.
Our production is unique in another way; its very title, The Tempest in Milan, indicates links between this tragicomedy and Milan. The lead characters Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, his daughter Miranda, and brother Antonio, come from Milan, and the name of our city is mentioned over twenty times. We hope this interpretation will contribute to making Milan a ‘Shakespearian’ city as it well deserves.
Director: Maggie Rose
Assistant director: Melissa Marino
Musical collaboration directed by Amy Barton, artistic director of the Youth Choir of Milan and soprano in The Milan Singers.
Cast: Tommaso Bavestrelli (Caliban), Amy Barton (Prospero), Manfredi Costa (Gonzalo), Manuel Rezkalla (Sebastian), Giulia Gibbon (Ariel), Verlie Anne Jones (Trinculo), Hugo McCafferty (Alonso), Melissa Marino (Stephano), Shila Pakbaz (Antonio), Daria Popa (Miranda), Eugenio Scotti Camuzzi (Ferdinand).
Banquet Design: Beatrice Di Vincenzo, Margherita Magnoni, Matilde Paganini, Martina Toia (Scuola di Scenografia, Accademia di Brera)
Banquet backdrop: Betta Marzorati
Poster: Claudia Moltrasio
Assistant Stage manager: Julia DiBona
Producer: Sal Cabras
Photos and Video: Elena Clara Savino, Matteo Zavattoni, Shila Pakbaz, James and Liz Willetts
Loving the Enemy- 8:30pm
At the beginning of WW2 Hugo Ricci, born in Glasgow to Italian parents, enrols in the British army to fight Nazi Germany. Still this young Glaswegian is treated with suspicion by the authorities who fear he will betray his country, if he fights on the frontline. His superiors often ask him: “Which side are you on?” and even if Hugo always replies ‘I’m British’, for the entire war he is kept far from battle. He is ordered to train new recruits, prepare bully beef for the troops, educate a group of German POWs. Still, against all odds, this intelligent young man manages to turn his experience with the German POWs into something morally uplifting. Thanks to their shared knowledge of a Robert Burns poem, their meeting is marked by a sense of brotherhood and hope for peace. Just like a fairytale with a very happy ending, during the Victory Concert on the 1st May 1945, the POWS sing and dance with the British Tommies, while at the back of the hall, “la bellissima Mhairi”, Hugo’s sweetheart, finally reappears.
The Scottish-Italian authors of this play, Hilda De Felice and Lorenzo Novani, draw on the wartime story of Hilda’s father, whose family migrated from Picinisco in Lazio at the turn of the 19th century. The play ran to great acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023. The performance will be accompanied by Italian surtitles.
