Rent the Hall
The Popular Theater "La Contrada" was born in Trieste on April 22, 1976 on the initiative of the actors Orazio Bobbio, Ariella Reggio, Lydia Braico and the director Francesco Macedonio. The original denomination of what would later become La Contrada – Teatro Stabile di Trieste was suggested by Ariella Reggio, with the intention of uniting a term capable of evoking the Trieste origins of the company and a word which, in full harmony with the concept of "self-management" of the seventies, indicated a theater that intended to act as an alternative to the official one.
The constitution of the company and the launch of the artistic activities are, in truth, the arrival point of a long journey matured by the founders through years of discussions, stimuli, projects. The common belonging of the four founders to the Teatro Stabile del Friuli Venezia Giulia, within which they had been carrying out their artistic activity for many years, undoubtedly played in favor of the birth of the Contrada.
The Seventies
Without its own home, in the first years the company carried out an itinerant activity, often receiving hospitality in the Auditorium Hall. Here, on May 20, 1976, the first show debuted, A casa tra un poco, by Roberto Damiani and Claudio Grisancich. These are the difficult days of the earthquake, and the room can barely fill up. Despite this, the company does not lose heart, and decides to tackle an artistic territory that was little explored at the time: that of children's theatre. In November of the same year, A theater, two carabinieri, three puffins and a street sweeper by Tonino Conte and Lele Luzzati was staged: the success was complete and the Contrada decided to continue along this line, staging what is considered a milestone in history of Italian children's theatre, Marcovaldo by Sergio Liberovici. The show performs several hundred times throughout Italy and allows the Contrada to make itself known as the best company in the sector. In the following years the group continued its activity alternating children's theater with dramaturgy intended for an adult audience: numerous shows were successfully presented, including Marionette in Libertà, Don Quixote, The Old Woman and the Moon and Un sial per Carlotta by Ninì Perno with Sergio Endrigo. Between 1978 and 1980, in collaboration with the Municipality of Muggia, the Contrada organized the first three "Teatro Ragazzi in piazza" events, which constituted an important national and international showcase, but also a moment of meeting and discussion between the operators of the sector.
The eighties
The turning point in the activity of the Contrada took place in November 1982, when the group, looking for a space in which to represent the new production for children - Teatro per accordion by Francesco Macedonio - rented the then Cristallo cinema-theatre. The positive outcome of the experience pushes Orazio Bobbio to renew the contract to organize, at the beginning of 1983, the first children's event "At the theater in company". The success achieved by the event convinced the Contrada - not without doubts and uncertainties - to ask for the management of the Cristallo, thus finding a stable location. Having made some necessary changes to the room, we are preparing for an important step: the proposal of an evening program for adults. The risk is different, considering that a permanent theater has already been active in the city for years, but Orazio Bobbio decides to try his luck. 186 spectators subscribed to the first season of 1983/1984, opened by a recital by Franca Valeri: a small number, but attendance at the theater increased exponentially, so that already in the second season there were 1,983 season ticket holders. From that moment he began a successful artistic journey accompanied by growing acclaim from the public and critics, which consolidated in 1986, when one of the symbolic texts in the history of the Contrada was staged: Two pairs of Vienna silk stockings by Carpinteri and Faraguna. With this comedy - destined to be revived numerous times - a successful artistic partnership began between the company and the two authors from Trieste who, in the following years, wrote numerous successful texts: A Thousand Crowns Ticket (1987), Marinaresca (1988) , Co 'erimo putei… (1989), Seven straw chairs from Vienna (1991), Putei e putele (1992), Hello, mama…? (1993), Locanda Grande (1994) and the most recent What will people say? (2004). Alongside an artistic path dedicated to theater in the Triestine language, the Contrada, since the first seasons, has produced shows intended for the national circuit: Viennese Tango by Peter Turrini (1984, 1986 and 1993), Un'ora d'amore by Josef Topol (1986), Merry Christmas My Friends by Alan Ayckbourn (1987), Old World by Alexei Arbuzov (1988), Love Stories by Anton Chekhov (1989). In 1988 the Contrada received recognition from the then Ministry for Tourism and Entertainment as a stable production theater on private initiative. This is an important achievement which, on the one hand guarantees the company state funding, on the other imposes high quality and production standards.
The nineties
The years to come are full of activity and mark the achievement of new goals, both in terms of the number of season ticket holders and total attendance, and from the point of view of production and personnel employed. Important shows are produced for the national circuit, which mark the season dedicated to Central European drama: Emigrants by Slawomir Mrozek (1991), The Bench by Alexandr Gel'man (1991), Omobono and the Incendiaries by Max Frisch (1993), while he started a new path on brilliant theatre, staging Umberto Simonetta's La Presidente (1990). On the Trieste-language theater front, the comic repertoires are enriched with the staging of a dramatic text, Un baseto de cuor by Claudio Grisancich (1994). In the mid-1990s we witnessed a renewal of repertoires both in the Triestine language and those intended for national markets. In the first case, an investigation into Angelo Cecchelin's theater is undertaken, staging El mulo Carleto (1996) and El serpentine de l'Olimpia (1999), interspersed with a particularly impactful staging, Antonio Freno by Ninì Perno and Francesco Macedonio (1997). On the side of national productions, a path opens up on the brilliant theater of the Thirties: after the successful Centocinquanta la gallina canta by Achille Campanile (1994) - which, among other things, marks the arrival of director Antonio Calenda in Trieste - there are on stage I don't know you anymore by Aldo De Benedetti (1996) with Lauretta Masiero and Sorelle Materassi by Aldo Palazzeschi (1998) with Masiero, Reggio and Isa Barzizza.
Alongside the Contrada arose in 1998 theAssociation "Friends of the Contrada”, which has promoted numerous successful cultural initiatives, including the Seasons ofLectern theater. Finally, in 2003, theAssociation "the cellar", which immediately promoted theTheater Academy "City of Trieste", the first real theater school born in our city, which organizes two-year courses for the preparation of young professional actors.
2000s
1998 marks the start of a fruitful collaboration with Tullio Kezich. For the Contrada he wrote four texts which represent some of the absolute pinnacles of dramaturgy in the Triestine language: The American of San Giacomo (1998), A nest of memories (2000) and The boys of Trieste (2004) which constitute the “Triestine Trilogy ”, to which is added L'ultimo carnevàl (2002), a splendid dramaturgical reflection on the figure of Italo Svevo. The years closest to us mark a new chapter in the artistic proposals of the Contrada. The dramaturgy in the Triestine language opens up to themes that address an investigation within the social fabric of Trieste: Sariandole by Roberto Curci (2006), Vola colomba by Pierluigi Sabatti (2007), Tramachi by Roberto Curci (2008), Remitùr by Ugo Vicic (2009) and Fuori i seconds by Enrico Luttmann (2010). Finally, the national productions turned to both texts by Pino Roveredo (Dancing with Cecilia, 2001; Capriole in Salita and Caracreatura, 2009) and the Anglo-Saxon repertoire (Io e Annie by Woody Allen, 2003; Rose by Martin Sherman, 2004; The Irresistible Boys by Neil Simon with Johnny Dorelli and Antonio Salines, 2004; Il divo Garry by Noël Coward with Gianfranco Jannuzzo, 2007), to contemporary Italian dramaturgy (Italians are born by and with Maurizio Micheli and Tullio Solenghi, 2009), to the contemporary French one (Daddy Blues by Bruno Chapelle and Martyne Visciano, with Marco Columbro and Paola Quattrini, 2011), but also to a great classic such as I rusteghi by Carlo Goldoni (2003).
In September of 2006Horace Bobbio, President of the Contrada, dies prematurely. His wife, Livia Amabilino, takes over the reins, and a year later, to honor the memory of Orazio,Mayor Roberto Dipiazza has the Teatro Cristallo named after him.
2010's and beyond
The latest productions have seen the renewal of the partnership with Micheli and Solenghi, adapters and interpreters of Francis Veber's L'appearance deceives (2012), a return to the classics with The Dream of Lysistrata from Aristophanes and to Noël Coward's theaterography with Private Lives. A renewed interest in Neil Simon's theater led the Contrada to stage Barefoot in the Park in 2013 and to propose a new edition of Prisoner of Second Street for 2014, the certainly less light text in Simon's play, still popular today. very timely. The search for a text linked to the themes of the Great War, very current in the year in which the centenary celebrations begin in the regions of the north-east, leads the Contrada to produce a text with a strong musical flavour, enlisting the famous trio of the Marinetti Sisters who join Ariella Reggio on a journey of vintage songs between the two world wars. The success of this Sciantose, eccentrics and microphone divas, premiered at the Mittelfest in Cividale del Friuli, led the Contrada to strengthen the collaboration with the singing trio, producing the Marinetti Sisters' next show, Risate sotto le bombe, a comedy set in 40s, which once again gives the three artists the opportunity to try their hand at the musical repertoire of the time. Linked instead to multidisciplinary theater research, which combines prose and dance, is the national production Dirty dancing, taken from the famous 1989 film of the same name. The stage setup, which involves 22 actors and dancers, forces the show to spend a long three-month stay at the Barclays Teatro Nazionale in Milan. On the front of new productions, in 2015 the Contrada proposes a new text intended for the national tour. Returning to Galcerán's dramaturgy, the Contrada brings to the stage a new text for the Italian stages, Cancun, focusing on a quartet of exceptional performers: Mariangela D'Abbraccio, Blas Roca Rey, Giancarlo Ratti and Nicoletta Della Corte. The show, which debuted as a summer preview at the Borgio Verezzi Festival, was distributed from October 2015 to March 2016 and was revived in 2017 with an excellent new protagonist: Pamela Villoresi. In the 2016/2017 season the Contrada is launching four new projects. The first is The usual journey by Filippo Gili and Matteo Oleotto, which inaugurates a new collaboration between the Contrada and three great interpreters of Italian theatre: Marina Massironi, Roberto Citran and Luisa De Santis, Giancarlo Ratti, former interpreter of Cancun and the actor Italian-Iranian Aram Kian, author of Zoran and the Porcelain Dog. The show is directed by Matteo Oleotto. The second project is instead made in co-production with the Drama Italiano di Fiume and sees the participation of Gualtiero Giorgini and Rossana Carretto: Murders on a lunch break adapted and directed by Paola Galassi. As with the previous work created by the two cross-border companies, Zoran and the Porcelain Dog, this show is also distributed at two different times, the first in April-May in Croatia, the second in October-November in Italy. The third project still aims at brilliant comedy, reinterpreting in a comic key a 1975 Lumet film, That Afternoon of a Dog's Day, which in the stage transposition curated by GianniClementi and starring Corrado Tedeschi becomes That Afternoon of a Day... as a star! . Directed by Ennio Coltorti, the show features the participation of Tosca D'Aquino and Augusto Fornari. A more exquisitely poetic and dreamy project is instead the transposition onto the stage of Limelight, Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece which in Italian theaters has the face and stature of a great performer like Antonio Salines, directed by the delicate hand of Giuseppe Emiliani. The new production that the Contrada is proposing for the national circuit in 2017 bears the prestigious signature of Sergio Pierattini: The perfect dinner. The comedy, which strengthens the artistic partnership between the Contrada and Blas Roca Rey, who is the protagonist and brings on stage a chef anxious about the fate of his restaurant, surrounded by a bizarre group of colleagues and customers. The direction is by Nicola Pistoia.
Theater linked to the territory
Since its origin La contrada has reserved constant and significant attention to the creation of a new repertoire in the dialectal language for the enhancement of the identity, history and culture of Trieste.
The work carried out in recent years thanks to authors such as Carpinteri and Faraguna, Tullio Kezich, Francesco Macedonio, Ninì Perno, Roberto Damiani, Claudio Grisancich and others, has made it possible to implement an effective design choice with the applause of a passionate public.
The first attempts made by the Teatro Stabile del Friuli–Venezia Giulia in the 1960s with the staging of texts such as Co' son lontan de ti… by Vladimiro Lisiani, which was followed by the famous trilogy by Carpinteri and Faraguna Le maldobrie, We of the old provinces and Austria was an orderly country, have been taken up with continuity by the Contrada. Texts such as A casa tra un poco by Damiani and Grisancich opened up an original sector and demonstrated how the Trieste dialect, repeatedly tested in the brilliant repertoire, was a highly expressive language also in the dramatic side.
The response that the public has always wanted to give to dialect theater over the years – suffice it to recall very different texts such as Sariandole by Roberto Curci and Un baseto de cuor by Claudio Grisancich – confirms the need for a multi-year program which can, through the analysis of issues closely linked to the cultural fabric of a city so rich in history and literature, reaffirm the profound importance of supporting the development of a theatrical tradition.
The reference point for the development of a dramaturgy in dialect must be the cultural and historical fabric of the city to which that tradition belongs. The possibilities offered in this sense by the history of Trieste are truly many, especially when one considers the twentieth century, which for our city was truly rich in events of great historical, social and cultural significance.
Furthermore, the image of Trieste is strongly rooted with an intense and complex positive connotation in Italy and in Europe: it could be precisely the theatrical product that acts as a link and a point of reference for the multiple underlying qualities, thanks to the inherent convergence between forms of artistic expression and the power of representation with the lively and participatory presence of the public.
From these brief reflections it is possible to trace a dramaturgical path which, treasuring the cultural, historical and civil experiences gained by the city in its crucial moments, bears witness to the historical process but also to the social and cultural function that the theater fulfills.
LE PRODUZIONI DIALETTALI E LEGATE AL TERRITORIO 1976 – A casa tra un poco di Roberto Damiani e Claudio Grisancich 1981 – Un sial per Carlotta di Ninì Perno 1982 – 1902: I Fuochisti di Luisa Crismani 1986 – Due paia di calze di seta di Vienna di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1987 – Un biglietto da mille corone di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1988 – In mezo a ‘ste disgrazie… el tuo ricordo di Edda Vidiz 1988 – Marinaresca di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1989 – Due paia di calze di seta di Vienna di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1989 – Co’ ierimo putei di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1989 – Grisaglia blù di Sergio Velitti 1990 – Quela sera de febraio… di Francesco Macedonio e Ninì Perno 1991 – Sette sedie di paglia di Vienna di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1992 – Putei e putele di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1992 – Due paia di calze di seta di Vienna di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1993 – Pronto, mama…? di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1994 – Un baseto de cuor di Claudio Grisancich 1994 – Locanda grande di Carpinteri e Faraguna 1995 – Un’Isotta nel giardino di Ninì Perno e Francesco Macedonio 1996 – Galina vecia di Augusto Novelli 1996 – El mulo Carleto di Roberto Damiani da Angelo Cecchelin 1997 – Antonio Freno di Ninì Perno e Francesco Macedonio 1998 – L’americano di San Giacomo di Tullio Kezich 1999 – Alida Valli che nel ’40 iera putela di Claudio Grisancich 1999 – El serpente de l’Olimpia di Roberto Damiani da Cecchelin 2000 – Un nido di memorie di Tullio Kezich 2001 – Due paia di calze di seta di Vienna di Carpinteri e Faraguna 2002 – L’ultimo carnevàl di Tullio Kezich 2003 – Mia fia di Giacinto Gallina 2004 – Cosa dirà la gente? di Carpinteri e Faraguna 2004 – I ragazzi di Trieste di Tullio Kezich 2005 – Zente refada di Giacinto Gallina 2006 – Xe bon l’oio de Dragoseti da Carpinteri e Faraguna 2006 – Sariandole di Roberto Curci 2007 – Vola colomba di Pierluigi Sabatti e Francesco Macedonio 2008 – Tramachi di Roberto Curci 2009 – Remitur di Ugo Vicic e Francesco Macedonio 2010 – Fuori i secondi di Enrico Luttmann 2011 – Svola cicogna di Enrico Luttmann 2012 – Maldobrie di Carpinteri e Faraguna 2013 – Due paia di calze di seta di Vienna di Carpinteri e Faraguna 2014 – Sissi a Miramar di Alessandro Fullin 2015 – Zoran di Andrea Collavino e Aram Kian 2015 – Vipere di Carlo Tolazzi 2016 – Ritorno a Miramar di Alessandro Fullin 2016 – Pronto, mama…? di Carpinteri e Faraguna 2017 – Le Basabanchi di Alessandro Fullin 2018 – Nuovo Cine Swarovsky di Davide Calabrese 2019 – Basabanchi rèpete di Alessandro Fullin 2020 – Ottantena di Davide Calabrese 2021 – Le Sorelle Robespierre di Alessandro Fullin