One would imagine himself around a table talking about theater, planning, scheduling, conceiving, but the two major meetings with Jacopo Fo to prepare the work of the second mission in Mozambique – I’m leaving in a few weeks – took place in the car. Being still in front of a breathtaking view, but sitting in the car, like two secret lovers! 🙂

We must find the key comic elements of the Mozambican theater, this is the “theatrical” goal of the mission! What makes them laugh? Which are the comic scenes? And the stories?

“Ask them to tell you jokes!” – Jacopo tells me. “Ask them how they seduce a woman, if they remember any funny scenes with girls.”

I jot down everything on my notebook, I reply it will not be easy to get them to talk about themselves, to open up. I tell him about the communication difficulties encountered in the first mission, I tell him that sometimes the situation is not favorable to confidential dialogue. “I never know if I they are inventing the stories. How do I know that what they are telling me is true? ”

And Jacopo, to convince me, says the classic catchphrase:”We will also have a stroke of luck, for sure!”.

Agenda – second mission in Mozambique

This time we are going to make the journey the other way round: from Milan to Pemba, then to the villages, and lastly to Maputo. These last months we have deepened the work relationship with the Luarte group and we are going to cooperate with them in the production of the theatrical performance and in the selection of the actors of the District of Cabo Delgado.

Thanks to the contacts of Eni Foundation in the District and to the staff on the scene we’ve managed to organize that the theater groups of Palma and its vicinity do performances during our visit. We are going to see performances in Palma, Quionga and Pundanhar, and Pemba by Vitor Raposo, of course.

After each performance we are going to ask to meet the actors and to talk to them. We must find out how they work, how they create their texts, where they get the stories, the information from.

During the last few days in the capital we are going to meet Luarte again to discuss the information collected in the villages.

Of all the actors who we will see, we are going to select ten to come to Italy for two internships at Alcatraz, during which we are going to think, write and rehears our show “Theater so Good” . It is the show that the actors are going to take into 5 villages of Cabo Delgado and Maputo in the coming months.

This is the plan, drawn up on a car dashboard. So quite a lot in theory.

Personal reflection: What will the theater groups of Palma and in the villages propose to us? Will we understand the shows? I don’t mean only the words but the meaning, the message. Will I manage to grasp the funny side?

“Watch the show but also the reactions of the audience!” Jacopo told me.

Will I be able to identify those who are talented?

And even those who might be able to deal with the experience in Italy?  It is an aspect that is not to be underestimated!

I’m excited about this new experience but, gosh, what an experience!