DATE AND VENUE

Lasts app. 80’; no intermission.
Italian with Turkish surtitles.

Important Notice: There is use of strobe lights in the play.

EMILIA ROMAGNA TEATRO FONDAZIONE – NATIONAL THEATRE COMPAGNIA PIPPO DELBONO

• Conceived and Directed by: Pippo Delbono
• Floreal Composition: Thierry Boutemy
• Music: Pippo Delbono, Antoine Bataille, Nicola Toscano and various composers
• Light Designer: Orlando Bolognesi
• Costumes: Elena Giampaoli
• Light Technician: Orlando Bolognesi/Alejandro Zamora
• Sound: Pietro Tirella/Giulio Antognini
• Set and Props: Gianluca Bolla/Enrico Zucchelli
• Production Manager: Alessandra Vinanti
• Organization: Silvia Cassanelli
• Technical Manager: Fabio Sajiz
• Performers: Dolly Albertin, Gianluca Ballarè, Margherita Clemente, Pippo Delbono, Ilaria Distante, Mario Intruglio, Gianni Parenti, Pepe Robledo, Grazia Spinella, Bobò’s voice
• Co-production with: Théâtre de Liège, Le Manège Maubeuge – Scène Nationale

Pippo Delbono will be presented with the 25th İstanbul Theatre Festival Honorary Award after the play in November 4.

‘It can bring joy where there is sadness, light where there is darkness...’ That’s how Pippo Delbono defines the power of theatre. Delbono was a guest at the İstanbul Theatre Festival’s online programme last year with Dopo La Battaglia.

This time, Delbono is once again at the festival, but with clowns by his side and with a play that is bound to be a sensation! His latest production, La Gioia, is a flower-laden ode to joy, an antidote to man’s fear of death... With La Gioia, Delbono and his wonderful ensemble remind us how fragile happiness is as they celebrate life with songs, dance, stories, poetry, music, a hint of madness, fairy tale costumes, and an abundance of joy that envelops the audience.

Delbono, who is constantly looking for the light in his plays, finds this light in La Gioia, his play without long-time stage collaborator Bobò who died in 2019, in unparalleled beauty, and a flood of extremely gentle emotions. Bobò and Delbono had met for the first time at a psychiatric clinic near Naples in 1996, where doctors said that Bobò ‘would remain a child for the rest of his life’. A great actor, who couldn’t speak, hear, read or write, was born on stage. Pippo Delbono and Bobò shared the stage for 22 years and became inseparable. La Gioia is a joyous farewell for Bobò, which is actually a lament.

How would you like to take a journey through the floral garden of our memories, towards ourselves, our hopes, our endings, and our beginnings? With La Gioia, you will admire the powerful music of Antoine Bataille, be carried away by the magnificent floral creations of Thierry Boutemy, and embark on an adventure where what you learn changes with each show, every evening? We invite you to embrace life despite everything and praise the joy that sustains us...