Enrico Bonavera

The Secrets of the Harlequin


Boasting over 30 years of experience in Commedia dell'arte, actor Enrico Bonavera will take the audience back in time, namely, during the Baroque period, focusing specifically on acting techniques involving masks. Throughout his performance, Bonavera will recite monologues of his most celebrated characters: Zanni, Pantalone, Brighella, Dottore, Capitano, and, of course, the Harlequin (Arlecchino), the character he has been playing at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano for the past 15 years, next to the great Ferrucio Soleri. The performance will demonstrate Bonavera's unique techniques of transformation: how body language and different voices can be used to represent diverse movement patterns. The Secrets of the Harlequin is at once a performance and a theatre lesson in dialogue with the audience, bringing to the fore the unique bond between performer and spectator that has made Commedia dell'arte world-famous.