Coperta — the director “when you’re performing for very young children, you need to know how to give and receive at the same time.”
Many of Rotondes’ youngest regulars will recognise Andrea Buzzetti. The Italian actor has appeared here several times in productions by the Italian company La Baracca – Testoni Ragazzi. Remember Spot (2016), Casa (2016), Upside Down (2018), On-Off (2018), Famiglie (2021)?
For Coperta, Rotondes’ latest production for young audiences, Andrea has taken on the director’s role, guiding performers Melina Bountzika, Joe Del-Toe, and Mária Devitzaki through each stage of the creative process in his own distinctive way.
Your connection with Rotondes goes back several years. But when did the idea of creating a production with us first come about?
Andrea: My link with Rotondes is through my company, La Baracca – Testoni Ragazzi, which specialises in theatre for very young audiences aged 0 to 6. We typically produce around two shows a year, and they are regularly shown here.
In 2021, just after the COVID period, Laura, the Performing Arts Programme Manager at Rotondes, called me to discuss the possibility of creating a joint production with artists from Luxembourg. At first, we kept bringing our own shows [Tangram (2022) et Cornici (2023), editor’s note]. The idea finally took shape in 2024.
Rotondes then put out an open call for local artists to take part in a two-day workshop with you, with the chance of being selected to develop a full production.
A: That’s right. I led the workshop, which was really a kind of audition, although I’m not keen on simply watching people and saying, “You’re good, you’re not”. I did a variation of a masterclass I run around the world, based on simple exercises that lead to ideas suited to young audiences. You might start, for instance, with an everyday object and explore new ways of using it, transforming it into something else.
I split the participants into small groups and observed them. I wasn’t so much judging what they did as seeing who worked well together. I was also looking for people capable of performing while remaining attuned to their audience – which is essential when performing for very young children. You have to know how to give and receive at the same time.
It was also important to me to choose performers from different artistic backgrounds to spark a kind of creative cross-pollination, so that everyone could share and discover approaches beyond their own field. That’s how we brought together a singer [Mária Devitzaki], a clown [Joe Del-Toe], and a dancer [Melina Bountzika].
Once you’d assembled the team, there were periods when all four of you worked together, but also times when Mária, Joe, and Melina worked independently. Did you assign tasks for them before you left?
A.: It’s a working method I’m rather fond of, because they’re the ones who’ll be on stage, not me. I’m an actor myself, so I know how important it is to trust what you’ve created and what you’re performing. What happened is that I staged certain scenes, but I also asked them to bring me ideas, which I adjusted if needed. They then had the opportunity to test these ideas in front of a school audience to see directly what worked and what didn’t. This working method meant they were completely engaged in the project.
Is there a “Buzzetti touch” to look out for in the finished piece?
A.: I have quite a simple signature, really, in three parts. First: less is more. I want to leave room for children’s imagination. Second: fullness in emptiness, whether we’re talking about objects or sounds. If you focus, for instance, on the movement of the hands, in silence, working only with gaze and presence, you can truly draw the audience in. And finally: circularity. I like to start from a situation and return to it in the final scene, to rediscover something that had been lost along the way. It sounds rather complicated put like that, but it’ll all make sense when you see the show.
Obviously, this style and the advice you give to Mária, Joe, and Melina stem from your long experience with young audiences.
A.: I’ve been creating for children for nearly 25 years now. They’re a wonderful, brutally honest audience. If they like your performance, they’ll stay; if not, they’ll leave. Children won’t wait for you. The first time I performed in front of a group of nursery-aged children, in Bologna, I stood in front of them – a big bloke like me – and said “Hello!” loudly and clearly, and everyone burst into tears! I’ve learnt to adapt whilst staying true to myself at each stage of my life, so that I can always be genuine in front of children. It’s been quite a journey.
Children don’t attend shows on their own. Do you think about the adults accompanying them when you’re creating a piece?
A.: The creative approach and language are centred on the children, but the production should speak to everyone. Adults should also find something meaningful in it. It’s important that they don’t just put their children in the front row and stay at the back doing something else. The show should be experienced together. Culture is a shared experience.
What would you like the audience to feel after seeing Coperta?
A.: I’d like the audience to leave the Black Box with questions – about life, relationships, listening, and sharing. We won’t offer answers; we just want to stir emotions.