GIORNATE D’AUTORE

FOCUS ROLAND SCHIMMELPFENNIG

Conversation between the author and Florian Borchmeyer

Reading from Der halbe Mond
directed by Matteo Tarasco
with Luchino Giordana, Stefano Guerrieri, Irene Paloma Jona, Laura Mazzi, Salvo Pappalardo

translated by Monica Marotta

TEATRO DUE – Shakespeare 1

1st NOVEMBER, 5:30 pm

They all live in the skyscrapers of the suburbs. The “Chinese”, too, who sells fruit and vegetables in his small shop. And who knows how to tell a story about each fruit. And who falls in love with the beautiful Olga. And because she also falls in love with him, the two become a couple, although they aren’t a match at all. The whole neighborhood thinks so, because she is so young and he is so old; she would be a better match with the “Lebanese”. He works in the hardware store and is young and strong and knows the way to the roof. She also falls in love with him. She just wants to have everything at the same time.

When the circus Navara comes to town and unhinges the world for a short moment blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy, she actually gets everything at once, but in a different way than she expected. All of a sudden, the old “Chinese” finds himself in the body of the “Lebanese”, while the vigorous young man has to cope with the body of the “Chinese”…

Roland Schimmelpfennig, born in Göttingen in 1967, is an author, director and one of the most widely performed contemporary playwrights in Germany. After a long stay as a journalist in Istanbul, he studied directing at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich. Since then, he has written plays for major theatres such as the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Residenztheater in Munich and the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, as well as for international stages in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Toronto and Tokyo. His plays, including frequently performed works for children and young people, have received numerous awards, including the prestigious Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis.