This is the company’s first production, which opened at the Teatro Metastasio with the support of Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo who selected the work as part of the Gis Call for performances.

In this new production of the Dumb Waiter, the two main characters are played by two actresses who, differently from previous productions, do not play “en travestì” but instead they investigate the indeterminateness of Pinter’s writing to seek the potential for a female development of the work. Who are Ben and Gus? What are they waiting for in that room? Suspense grips the audience from the beginning with a will to know more. Pinter stimulates spectators’ curiosity from the very first scene of this crime story, yet as soon as the first clue is given there is also a thematic shift that refers to the resolution of the plot. So the audience is left with the characters waiting inside that claustrophobic room with a sense of an ever-lasting threat hanging over everyone’s heads.

Through the use of a loop station, of singing and dance, Pinter’s writing opens up to moments of direct and visceral contact with the audience, when the words and thoughts of the characters get amplified and distorted. The loop station becomes the resonator of the character’s intimacy, the sound of their internal organs, like a suspended bubble that takes shape beyond the space and time of the story. This can become a frightening scream or a blues song. The work takes the audience inside the real private room of the characters, where one can see all the fragility and beauty of being human.

by Harold Pinter direction, lights and stage Mila Vanzini with Roberta De Stefano and Claudia Caldarano sound score Roberta De Stefano, Claudia Caldarano lights technician Elena Piscitilli supported by the Centro Artistico il Grattacielo, Teatro Metastasio, Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo