LE VACANZE (The Holidays)
written and directed by Alessandro Berti
cast Francesco Bianchini, Sebastiano Bronzato
and the participation of Giovanni Campo
directed by Alessandro Berti
dance by Giovanni Campo
creative and production assistant Gaia Raffiotta
lighting design Théo Longuemare
scenographies by ERT scenography studio
workshop manager and head builder Gioacchino Gramolini
builders Davide Lago, Leandro Spadola with Tiziano Barone
decorators Ludovica Sitti, Sarah Menichini, Benedetta Monetti, Bianca Passanti, Martina Perrone
photographer Daniela Neri
bamboo grove Elle Natura Società Agricola
artisanal creams and ointments Erboristi Strulgador
production Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT / Teatro Nazionale
in collaboration with Casavuota
special thanks to Federica Iacobelli, Alice Marzocchi
Le vacanze is a dialogue set in the near future—not as distant as we might wish. On a plain turned desert-like by rising temperatures, small oases survive within valleys of eroded hills. In a bamboo grove that has withstood wildfires lies a tiny pond, fed by one of the few remaining active aquifers. Here, immersed in clay mud, two teenagers—Tom and Lao—seek relief from the scorching heat. The two boys are students on holiday after their exams. To combat the stifling air, they play visualization games, imagining themselves in cold places, recalling their childhoods, and talking about themselves, their loves, and their deceased parents. And they wait for the Performer, an old artist who tours the local farms as the area’s last remaining attraction.
Le vacanze is a dialogue set in the near future—not as distant as we might wish. On a plain turned desert-like by rising temperatures, small oases survive within valleys of eroded hills. In a bamboo grove that has withstood wildfires lies a tiny pond, fed by one of the few remaining active aquifers. Here, immersed in clay mud, two teenagers—Tom and Lao—seek relief from the scorching heat. The two boys are students on holiday after their exams. To combat the stifling air, they play visualization games, imagining themselves in cold places, recalling their childhoods, and talking about themselves, their loves, and their deceased parents. And they wait for the Performer, an old artist who tours the local farms as the area’s last remaining attraction. Le vacanze (The Holidays) chronicles a single day in the lives of two brilliant teenagers—curious heirs to an extreme world: Lao, who maintains faith in life and the future despite everything, and Tom, with his precocious disillusionment. In a world that has become entirely literal, the youths’ imagination and the dense, ritualistic presence of the Performer resonate in the void with the power of an extreme song. It is a confrontation between different generations and upbringings, united by the urgent need to make sense of the remaining vestiges of humanity—poised, then as always, between intellectual despair and ethical resolve.
“During the symbolic summer break following the end of their schooling, there are no Interrail trips or budget travels for Tom and Lao; there is nothing but the old family farmstead, complete with a reed thicket and a pond. Yet, even within these elemental conditions—which we might today rashly label ‘primitive’—the two boys traverse the psychological and ritual stages of a rite of passage. It is a moving transition into an uncertain adulthood, one to be lived out in the world beyond: a world that is increasingly constricted, simplified, and threatening…” Alessandro Berti
The book Le vacanze is published in the I Gabbiani series—theatrical literature for young readers—by Edizioni Primavera.