test THE LANDSCAPE OF ITALIAN THEATRE-NATURE: ARTISTS, COMPANIES AND FESTIVALS |ΠΑΡΑΒΑΣΙΣ/PARABASIS

THE LANDSCAPE OF ITALIAN THEATRE-NATURE: ARTISTS, COMPANIES AND FESTIVALS

Εξώφυλλο Παράβασις Τόμ. 20 / Cover Parabasis Vol. 20
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Published: Nov 24, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681//.43020
Emanuele Regi
Francesca Velardi
Abstract

This article aims to give a wide range of descriptions about a theatrical phenomenon that in Italy has been spreading since the 2000s: «theatre-nature». With this expression are considered all the performative activities that take place in natural spaces and are created and conceived about them. These forms emerged between the 80s and 90s, but it is from the first years of the 21st century that their diffusion reached many different parts of Italy from the North to the South. Itinerary and site-specific performances, and outdoor theatrical narration are only some of the possible forms that could inhabit the landscape. Companies and single artists might have different theatrical backgrounds (traditional, contemporary or even strictly performative), but they share a common modus operandi in which the ecological relationship with the landscape is crucial to creating the performative fact. We are going to investigate artists and companies (O Thiasos TeatroNatura, Campsirago, Azul Teatro, Teatro Selvatico), but also to analyse their production activities, particularly focusing on a parallel and linked phenomenon: outdoor nature festivals. The traditional theatre building and the structure of cultural funding in Italy are not always aware of «theatre-nature». Therefore, the final issue of this essay is to understand, through festivals, how this phenomenon is created, produced, and distributed.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Ειδικό Αφιέρωμα / Special Issue
Author Biographies
Emanuele Regi

Emanuele Regi is a PhD student in the Arts Department at the University of Bologna (Università degli Studi di Bologna). His primary area of study revolves around the relationship between performing arts and nature, focusing on a PON research project titled In Nature: Paths of Biodiversity Enhancement through Performing Arts at the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines UNESCO MaB Reserve.

He serves as an Editorial Board member for the academic journal Antropologia e Teatro. He has organized conferences involving workers and artists who integrate performing arts into landscapes, such as Connessioni Scena Natura” and Parole in Cammino II with Michele Pascarella, as well as Convention Eirene Danza per la Terra with Teatro Selvatico. His recent publications include Dancing the Landscape: «Ecological Practices between Choreography and Territory» (published in Mimesis Journal) and «A Matter of Relationships: Dramatising, Staging, and Planning Ecological Performances» (published in Itinera).

Francesca Velardi

Francesca Velardi graduated in Visual Arts in March 2024 at the University of Bologna Μπολόνια (Università degli Studi di Bologna) with a dissertation entitled A nature walk through contemporary art and theatre towards festivals in nature: the case of Scena Natura Festival, which deals with the phenomenon of theatres and festivals in nature, analysing in particular the specific case of the Bolognese festival Scena Natura.