An American director, actor and performer, Jared McNeill is one of the most versatile artists on the international scene. Trained by the master Peter Brook, he worked for ten years with his company, both on stage and behind the scenes, honing a profound and rigorous artistic vision that combines theatrical exploration with digital storytelling and music. He has a special bond with Italy, which has been consolidated over the years through artistic collaborations and educational activities: central to this was his meeting with Alessandro Serra, who cast him in The Tempest and Tragùdia: il canto di Edipo; alongside this, he has led educational programmes and workshops with various cultural and theatrical organisations across the country.
His return to Parma and Teatro Due is, in fact, a homecoming: during the 2018/2019 season, he was one of the leading figures in The Conductor, his directorial debut; in the season that has just ended, Fondazione Teatro Due entrusted him with directing a young cast of actors to tackle one of Shakespeare’s later works, The Winter’s Tale , a fascinating tragicomedy that explores, amongst other things, the theme of time through a narrative never bound by the laws of realism, shifting from sombre and suffocating moments to colourful, light-hearted comic outbursts.
McNeill’s staging contrasts the white space—seemingly perfect, yet rife with underlying tensions and the repression of a Sicilian winter—with the explosion of Bohemian spring’s rebirth. Linking these two places—both physical and spiritual—is a ‘bear in a black suit […]’. (Laura Zangarini, 7 – Corriere della Sera)
Having worked with Peter Brook for over ten years and possessing a deep understanding of Anglo-Saxon theatre, the director, actor and playwright McNeill brings exemplary clarity to this production, serving the text. (Giuseppe Distefano, Exibart)
What lingers in the heart of this Winter’s Tale is the harmony between the members of the young troupe and the joy of storytelling. (Nicola Arrigoni, Sipario)