Bottegavaga was born in 2016 but its roots are older and deeper.
Its founders VAnni, Gigi and Alberta – from which the “vaga” at the end of the name of the company – met in 1996 in Venice, at the beginning of their acting career, under the lead of actor Virgilio Zernitz. After working in the same company – L’isola Teatro – for four years, ranging from traditional to avant garde to children’s theatre, they have kept on writing and creating several shows, events and stories.
In 2016 they decided to put their professional efforts together again by founding Bottegavaga, a container for different artistic languages, such as theatre, music and texts.
Actor Betty Andriolo met the other three in 2005 and started cooperating more and more over the years, so much so that she was finally included in the management of the company.
During the years we have developed our own poetics and style: at first we dedicated our efforts towards the world of children, by creating theatre shows and audio fairy tales especially for them. Later we produced shows for all ages, where the fairy tale atmosphere is the main ingredient. Every story we tell is a true “hero’s journey” that changes the heart of both the performers and the audience.
Our gratitude goes to the many coaches that also contributed to shape our style and our artistic ideals:
- Giuseppe De Meo. who taught us that a theatre show is a compromise between the director’s vision and the actors’ improvisations.
- Isabella Palumbo and Renato Gatto, who showed us how our bodies and voices could transform into anything we want.
- Sandra Mangini, with whom we started the practice of having the actors always on-stage, always visible, always performing and transforming their bodies one scene after another.
- Virgilio Zernitz, who introduced us to the discipline of the spoken word, clearing the intonation like a piece of music.
- Serena Sinigaglia, who taught us the continuity between training for a show and blocking a show and methods to find credibility and intensity.
- Ferruccio Soleri and Enrico Bonavera, thanks to whom we learned the basics of the Commedia masks and how to be “possessed” by them.
- Sabine Uiz from Via Rosse theatre company, the Brazilian company Lume and the Agentinian one Periplo, who showed us the importance of choosing physical movements in order to channel and spread the energy of the body.
We have always wanted to be open to new worlds: as well as tailoring activities for international students, and using the English language on stage, we have created tourist experiences through guided tours in historical Venetian buildings combined with shows and/or theatre workshops.
Furthermore, we have also wanted to take our art abroad. Since 2019 our artistic activities have travelled to other countries, because, along with our will to work in the territory around Venice, we would like to enhance opportunities of international exposure.
EXPERIENCES ABROAD
- Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2019): this was a milestone in our path, as we got in touch with directors and actors from every corner of the world and got to witness with our own eyes how highly respected the tradition of Commedia Dell’arte is, especially when combined with contemporary experimentations.
- The Camden Fringe in London (2024): a new chance to meet a copious audience made of people of all ages, to talk with university professors, journalists and performers of all nationalities.
