Harlequin - High Culture Meets Slapstick

THE EDGE®International Arts Season presents

DIRECT FROM ITALY

Harlequin - High Culture Meets Slapstick: Magnifico!

Three weddings, two duels, a dance number, a chase sequence, a love story, a food fight – the Italian art of comedy on stage at Aotea Centre.

New Zealand audiences will experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see theatrical comedy at its finest, as the world-renowned Italian company Piccolo Teatro di Milano comes to centre stage in Auckland this October. HARLEQUIN: Servant of Two Masters, is an insight into the art of comedy – commedia dell'arte - the artistic forebear of modern-day comedy.

HARLEQUIN was written in 1745 by the legendary Carlo Goldoni, and for this performance the lead is played by Italy's theatrical maestro, Ferruccio Soleri, who will reprise the role he has played to global acclaim in more than 200 cities and 40 countries over more than four decades. In 2005 the New York Times wrote this production was "marvel of cleanly choreographed farce," and "anyone who has seen a Saturday morning television cartoon, an Abbott and Costello movie or a sex farce will recognize the comic techniques here."

The play features a cast of twenty, a half-dozen musicians and breathtaking masks and costumes. The plot is simple and hilarious: Harlequin is a wily trickster with a never-ending desire to fill both his pockets and his stomach and hence he becomes the servant of two masters. While the traditions of Milan and Auckland may be hemispheres apart, the Piccolo Teatro style emphasizing gestures, actions and skilled acrobatics means language and cultural barriers are easily overcome.

Theatre in Italy has a longer legacy than Shakespeare, and Piccolo Teatro di Milano - founded by late and revered director Giorgio Strehler in 1947 – has toured the world presenting the classical style of commedia dell'arte to rave reviews over the years. Piccolo Teatro di Milano is the Royal Shakespeare Company of Italy. This performance marks the first time this revered Italian theatre company sets foot on a New Zealand stage.

The art of comedy is a form of improvisional theatre dating from 15th Century Italy. Their central characters are "zanni" - the forebears of modern-day clowns. Harlequin is the best-known of the zanni, and is recognisible even 500 years later by his mask and diamond-shaped patchwork costume. The artform mines humour from human folly by exaggerating actions and manipulating language - a recipe that has never gone out of style. Over time commedia dell'arte has evolved and inspired many modern comic characters including Shakespeare's Puck, the Marx Brothers and Homer Simpson.

Written by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Giorgio Strepher and restaged by Ferruccio Soleri in collaboration with Stefano de Luca.
HARLEQUIN: Servant of Two Masters tour is supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, City of Milan - Expo 2015, Milan Chamber of Commerce, ENI and and Lufthansa.

THE EDGE® International Arts Season is supported by Auckland City, GEON and The Radio Network

Harlequin plays in Auckland:

ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre THE EDGE®

Thursday 1 October, 7pm
Friday 2 October, 7pm (*note: Enrico Bonavera will play the role of Harlequin on 2 Oct, Ferruccio Soleri plays on the other days)

Saturday 3 October, 7pm

Tickets

Premium Elite $125 Opening Night Only

Premium $99.00*

A Reserve $89.00*

B Reserve $69.00*

*Service Fees will apply

www.the-edge.co.nz

*Telephone Bookings

09 357 3355 or 0800 BUY TICKETS

(0800 289842)

ENDS

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