For TnF’s first major collective production, the company chose to work on a theme that is very present in the societies in which we live and on which the lockdown has accentuated reflection: time and its perception.
The research began with a fixed point: what we want to work on is not the time of reality, marked by the hands of the clock and the dictates of the god of money, nor is it modern time, in the words of Chaplin, characterised by speed, acceleration and competition.
What we wanted to focus our research on was the time of play.
So we started to work by improvising around this input: time in play, time in play, play that creates a reality outside of time.
For us, play is the key to freeing up time, and making it become free time, guided by different rules, not occupied by commitments: leisure time, in the Latin sense of otium creativo, as opposed to negotium, the time of material matters.
As Gianni Rodari would say, ‘time and play’ is a fantastic combination. Indeed, play allows the transcendental categories of space and time to be altered in real time.
Teatro nelle Foglie is an itinerant cultural space, created to write, produce, stage and distribute circus-theatre works.
The strength of circus, the improvisation of street theatre and the poetry of figure theatre come together under our big top.
The Teatro nelle Foglie company consists of Elena, Marta, Matteo and Nicolas. Four street artists, four circus performers, four clowns, four mileage grinders, four event organisers, four friends so reckless that they decide to believe in their own dreams.
TnF is a travelling cultural centre: a circus tent that hosts shows, workshops and opportunities for social gathering.
We believe in circus theatre and the performing arts as a tool for social and cultural transformation.
We believe in the good example that the circus can set for young people, introducing them to a healthy, participatory and active society.