Shakespeare by Night transforms medieval Apricale into a treasure hunt

From August 6 to 16, 2023, the Teatro della Tosse di Genova staged its traditional summer production, Shakespeare by Night, in the medieval village of Apricale, in the Val Nervia hinterland between Ventimiglia and Bordighera, Liguria. The ten-replica show, produced by the Fondazione Luzzati, featured a fragmented Shakespeare rewritten by director Emanuele Conte from monologues of key characters. The stage was shaped like an edelweiss, surrounded by restaurant and Proloco tables serving local dishes. The audience, divided into groups, wandered through Apricale's narrow stone streets, seeking hidden corners, squares, the Lucertola Museum, or the castle where masked actors repeated their monologues six times each evening. Conte's approach turned the performance into a joyful treasure hunt, with spectators becoming both audience and performers in a low-tech, immersive, interactive ritual. The play omitted Hamlet and Macbeth, instead featuring feminist witches deconstructing the alpha male king (Macbeth) and a gravedigger mocking Hamlet's anxieties, blending existentialist reflection with folk characters like witches, goblins, and fairies. The atmosphere evoked the Globe Theatre in the early 1600s, where theater was a collective, participatory rite.