Tiago Rodrigues Inaugurates Piccolo Teatro's 80th Season with Italian-Language Premiere of 'Coro degli Amanti'

Tiago Rodrigues's 'Coro degli Amanti' opens the 80th season of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, running from 29 September to 18 October at Teatro Grassi. This marks the first time the play is staged in Italian, with Isabella Ragonese and Francesco Alberici performing the two roles. The narrative centers on a couple whose evening at home watching Scarface is interrupted by the woman's severe asthma attack, prompting a hospital visit that forces them to confront their relationship. The production unfolds on a dark, nearly bare stage that shifts through colored lighting. Rodrigues's text, revised multiple times since 2006, layers the actors' words: they alternate between repeating identical phrases and offering conflicting memories, sometimes speaking sequentially and sometimes simultaneously, creating a polyphonic effect that demands precise timing and pauses. The play examines how people assume time is theirs to waste, a comforting illusion that leads to procrastination and unspoken regrets. It poses a direct question: what do we choose to do with the time we are given? The Italian premiere overcomes language barriers through its universal themes. Performances continue until 18 October at Piccolo Teatro Grassi, offering not answers but a prompt for personal reflection.