La Lezione di Teatro | The Acting Class

A joyful lesson in theater and a comic tribute to Italians’ theatrical talent for connecting to anyone, transcending language barriers

La Lezione di Teatro | The Acting Class is a 45-minute play on what it means to be an actor. Set partly in English and partly in Italian without subtitles, this show ironically demolishes preconceived notions of the difficulty of theater language and highlights how communication problems can be solved with theatrical body work; entertaining an audience that speaks or studies Italian, English, or both…or none!

The plot is simple, set along the lines of the tradition of the comedy of errors: an Italian actress receives a student in her apartment for a private theater lesson; he is eager to learn the tricks of the trade and she is thrilled at the idea of making him fall in love with Italian theater. She sits him down and searches through her library, preparing the ideal acting class for him! From Plautus to Dario Fo; through the beauty and complexity of Pirandello; contemplating with nostalgia Eduardo's nativity scene or even singing the tune of Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

The lesson seems to be going well until we realize that there is a small language problem, and communication breaks down until the universal language of the masks of Commedia dell'Arte comes to the rescue!

The play also won Best Regional Play and Best Actress at The Junction Dubai Awards night earlier this year.

Biographies

Francesca Bizzarri

Francesca Bizzarri is an Italian actress living in Abu Dhabi. For over a decade living in Paris, she worked in theater, television, and cinema. A twenty-year collaboration with the Teatro delle Briciole and Cà Luogo D'arte in Parma has seen her on stage in various international theaters. She has conducted workshops on the masks and clown theater in Italy, France, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates. While mainly focused on theater, her acting career involved television and cinema as well. She participated in Dubai Expo 2020 and at the Sharjah International Book Fair 2022 with a traveling theater and puppet performance. In October 2023 her bilingual show The Acting Class debuted at The Junction in Dubai. Francesca also holds a Major in Mathematics but that was before she came to her senses.

• Written by Francesca Bizzarri and Goffredo Puccetti
• Directed by Gabriele Tesauri
• Cast: Francesca Bizzarri
• Original music by Matteo Marciano
• The aria 'Una voce poco fa' performed by Francesca Lione
• Set design by Arper®
• Lightning design by Gabriele Tesauri
• Produced by Scalambra LLC
• Commissioned by Italian Cultural Institute of Abu Dhabi