Il Palscoscenico di Carta is back!

05 Saturday Nov 2016

Tags

bookshops, Il Palcoscenico di Carta, Love's Labour Lost, The Paper Stage, William Shakespeare

Interesting week, this… Which is why I haven’t posted on Thursday, by the way. Things have happened – mostly good, but time-consuming, and I never know when all the time goes.

DSCN1109BW One of the things, though, is this: we have found a home for Il Palcoscenico di Carta. At long last. One wouldn’t believe how difficult it was, but really, we’ve tried all sort of places: from cafés to small museums, from bookshops to military clubs – with everything in between… some were so blatantly unenthusiastic that we walked away, some loved the idea but had no room, some were willing but not right now, some asked an extortionate fee… Continue reading →

Deadly Sins and Stolen Cups

12 Thursday Nov 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Stories, Theatre

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

christopher marlowe, Dr. Faustus, Elizabethan London, Il Palcoscenico di Carta, The Paper Stage, Thomas Watson

Faust123 One thing that we noticed while reading Faustus with the Paper Stage, was that perhaps a three-part reading doesn’t suit every play – and this is true of the 1616 B Text of Faustus.

Faustus, with its mix of great power, fear and comedy, is a very Elizabethan kind of thing. When you split it in three, you have a strong beginning, in which a disillusioned scholar sells his soul to the devil, a potent ending in which said scholar pays the price for his arrogance, and in between… In between one is left with a string of comic scenes that, without the bitter irony of the premise and the fearful shadow of the ending, are at risk of falling more than a little flat. Continue reading →

The Actor’s Dilemma

01 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Theatre

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

actors, Il Palcoscenico di Carta, Reading, teaching drama, The Paper Stage

One of the actors taking part in the Palcoscenico di Carta/Paper Stage project made a very interesting observation.

It all began with a night-time message after the first of three meetings, in which he had read Faust(us) himself.

“This is a little awkward,” he wrote. “I’d like to be told I was good, but I don’t think I was… There’s no time, no room to work on the character – and I see that the PS calls for a reading, rather than a deeper identification… This is how it is, but still I feel inadequate. My fault, for never knowing how to keep to the golden mean.” Continue reading →

Il Palcoscenico di Carta Grows Up

10 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Theatre

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

christopher marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Il Palcoscenico di Carta, The Paper Stage

So, il Palcoscenico di Carta/the Paper Stage is back.

For three weeks, starting next Tuesday, we’ll gather in “our” dear bookshop-cum-art gallery to read an Italian translation of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. We’re in a flurry, right now, handing out parts and trying to get the local press to mind us at least a little.

I won’t read any part, this time: my job is introducing the play – and it won’t be the easiest of tasks. You know, there was little reason to do this back in May, when we read Romeo and Juliet. We all know R&J, don’t we. We all know who Shakespeare was, we all know the story, we all know what to expect. Why, we’ve all seen a movie adaptation or three – and very likely also the play itself, once or twice. Continue reading →

Little Shakespeareans

02 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Stories, Theatre

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

children, Il Palcoscenico di Carta, shakespeare

He is nine, going on ten, and brimming with eagerness.

Well, perhaps not quite so eager, the day he landed at Il Palcoscenico di Carta towed by his mother – but this changed soon enough when we gave him a speech or two to read. You could see he loved it from the start: the atmosphere, the reading, the tale, the voices, being part of it, chatting with the real actors… Continue reading →

Il Palcoscenico di Carta

05 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Theatre, Things

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Il Palcoscenico di Carta, Play-reading, Romeo and Juliet, shakespeare, The Paper Stage

Do you remember the Paper Stage – Canterbury’s public play-reading group? I told you about it some time ago.

What perhaps I didn’t tell you is that, after that post, Dr. Newman of the Paper Stage wrote to me asking: why not? Why not do it, why not set up an Italian chapter of the Paper Stage in my hometown?

And indeed… why not? Continue reading →