Ricci/Forte

Authors and directors, Stefano Ricci and Gianni Forte trained at the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio d’Amico with Luca Ronconi, and at New York University with Edward Albee. The eponymous ensemble was founded in 2005 and made its debut in 2006 with Troia’s Discount. The following year marked the debut of the first of 7 episodes in the Wunderkammer Soap project (based on Christopher Marlowe) which concluded in 2011 at the Romaeuropa Festival: a lucid and fierce look at the contemporary world that found its form in an oneiric language that would bring them to the attention of the national and international scene.

It was followed by Ploutos (inspired by Aristophanes, winner of the Critics’ award for best dramaturgy at the 2008 Biennale Teatro), Macadamia Nut Brittle, Abbastarduna (directed by David Bobée), Pinter’s Anatomy, Some Disordered Christmas Interior Geometries, Grimmless, Imitationofdeath, 100% Furioso at the NET Festival in Moscow, Still Life, Darling (ipotesi per un’Orestea), and TroiloVSCressida (from Shakespeare). La ramificazione del pidocchio and PPP Ultimo inventario prima di liquidazione, both about the poetic universe of Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Easy To Remember (a tribute to Russian poet Marina Cvetaeva) are among their latest works. Still Life won an Oscar as Best Foreign-Language Show in 2017 at the Mercosur International Theatre Festival in Cordoba in Argentina.

In 2015 their encounter with the world of lyric opera: they wrote the libretto for A Christmas Eve, and directed its debut at Spoleto. They then directed Puccini’s Turandot at the Macerata Opera Festival (Premio Abbiati 2018), Bluebeard’s Castle by Bartók and Die glückliche Hand by Schoenberg at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and finally Verdi’s Nabucco at the Teatro Regio in Parma. This year they conceived, wrote, hosted and directed Hic Sunt Leones, a television programme in five episodes for Rai3 television.