Readings on Sicilian myths and writings.
Written by Fabio Grossi and interpreted by Leo Gullotta. In Italian.
Original music by Germano Mazzocchetti.
FREE EVENT. RSVP essential. Eldon Hogan Performing Arts Centre, 41 Charles St , Kew
In collaboration with Co.As.It – Museo Italiano and the IIC Sydney
Press release: click here to download the PDF
“Leo Gullotta: Reading Sicily” is a performance for solo voice based on Sicilian ancient and modern poetry and prose. By drawing its inspiration from the archaic image of Mother Earth (“The Great Mother”), the musical tale starts from the origins of literature on the Island of Cyclops right through to our modern times. A journey between Myths and everyday life, between laughter and public condemnation.
The solo voice is by Leo Gullotta who, using the language of illustrious contemporaries, guides the audience through the pages of literary masterpieces and the verses of their poems. In-between the readings, the protagonist will give a personal account of some episodes of his everyday life, his adolescence and the most meaningful moments of his career.
Leo Gullotta will be accompanied on stage by original music specifically written for the show. The music, also a protagonist of the show, will mark the various stages or chapters of this poetic journey, intertwined with literary voices from a remote past until to our current days.
The dramatic journey, masterfully conceived by Fabio Grossi, pays tribute to writers such as, among others, Giovanni Meli, Tomasi di Lampedusa, Luigi Pirandello, Luigi Capuana, Pippo Fava, Ignazio Buttitta, Andrea Camilleri and several other Sicilian authors.
A close encounter with Italian literature through Sicilian authors, inviting us to a critical meditation on our modern society, comparing it with today’s and yesterday’s considerations. A reflection on courage, both civil and practical, statement of a life not simple but worth living. Authors and protagonists who have bravely defended their ideas take shape through the voice and the stage presence of an interpreter with a genuine attitude and clear intents.
The most immediate feature of Leo Gullotta’s art is certainly his versatility, experienced however as expressive multiplication, never as an escape into superficiality. Classical theatre and rowdy variety shows, cabaret and Saturday night TV shows, commercials and Oscar-winning movies. Furthermore, an unmatched capacity to embody ‘minor’ characters, seen almost always askew, however true and memorable. Gullotta’s artistic versatility lies not only in his interpretative skills or on his natural predisposition to embrace different acting registers. On the contrary, it is the result of an actual life choice, of an inexhaustible curiosity towards all theatre experiences, of a human and professional generosity which drive him to overcome specializations and formulas and instead to thread the territory of contaminations.
Born in 1946 in Catania, the youngest of six children of a pastry maker, Leo Gullotta discovers his acting vocation at 14 years of age, watching Gassman reciting Adelchi. After some acting experiences in university theatre companies, Gullotta starts acting for the Teatro Stabile in Catania, where he works for ten years alongside great masters such as Ave Ninchi, Salvo Randone and Turi Ferro. He then moves to Rome where he starts to work on voice-overs but where he discovers, above all, comedy and cabaret. He works at the “Puff”, “La Chanson”, and finally lands at the “Bagaglino”, where he soon becomes one of the mainstays of the show that gave him his great television popularity.
He makes his cinema debut with Coffee Express by Nanni Loy with Nino Manfredi. Subsequently he takes part in Giuseppe Tornatore’s Il camorrista, for which he receives his first David di Donatello as best supporting actor. He keeps on collaborating with Tornatore, both in voice-overs and acting, in several other movies, notably Cinema Paradiso. He also establishes an assiduous collaboration with Nanni Loy, acting in Testa o croce, Pacco doppio pacco e contropaccotto and Mi manda Picone, which earned him the Nastro d’argento (Silver Ribbon Prize) in 1984, and Scugnizzi. He continues his acting career with La scorta (1992) by Ricky Tognazzi, Uomini Uomini Uomini (1994) by Christian De Sica, Palla di Neve by Maurizio Nichetti (1995), Selvaggi by Carlo Vanzina (1995), Simpatici ed Antipatici by Christian De Sica (1998) and Il carniere by Maurizio Zaccaro (1996), for which he receives his second David di Donatello as best supporting actor. With Un Uomo perbene by the same director he obtains his third David di Donatello at the 1999 Venice Film Festival and the Golden Globe of the Foreign Press Association as Best Actor for 2000. In 2002, for his role in Vajont by Renzo Martinelli he receives the Golden Ciak 2002 and the prestigious Nastro d’argento (Silver Ribbon) 2002 by the ‘Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani’.
For television, after the success of La Madre Inutile by J.M. Sanchez, Cristallo di Rocca by M. Zaccaro, Operazione Odissea by C. Fragasso and Onora il Padre by G. Tescari, he obtains an outstanding success with Cuore, again directed by Zaccaro, for which he is awarded the Capitello d’oro at the 2002 Sanniofilmfest, the Telegatto 2002 and the Efebo d’Oro 2002. Further television works include Al di là delle frontiere, again with Maurizio Zaccaro, Alberto Negrin’s Il cuore nel pozzo, which earned him the Oscar TV. Another important role is uncle Ermenegildo in the TV movie Il bell’Antonio, based on Vitaliano Brancati’s novel and directed by Zaccaro. In 2015 he is one of the protagonists of the television series La Catturandi, directed by Fabrizio Costa.
Leo Gullotta returns to theatre during the 2005/2006 season, working in Pirandello’s L’Uomo, la Bestia e la Virtù, directed by Fabio Grossi, at the Eliseo theatre in Rome. His collaboration with Fabio Grossi continues during the 2008/2009 season with Pirandello’s Il piacere dell’onestà, again at the Eliseo. In 2009 he presents the recital Minnazza, written and directed by Fabio Grossi and accompanied live by an ensemble of three accordion players performing original music by Germano Mazzocchetti. Again with Fabio Grossi he will made his debut in the role of Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor within the Verona Summer Season and subsequently at the Eliseo theatre in Rome. He then goes on acting in A Midsummers Night’s Dream, produced by the Teatro Stabile in Catania, and Prima del silenzio by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi at the Eliseo theatre. During the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 theatre season he has performed, in some of the most prestigious Italian theatres, in Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, directed by Fabio Grossi. In 2016 he acted in Alessio Nuzzo’s short movie Lettere a mia figlia, depicting the issue of an invalidating disease such as Alzheimer’s.
Actor, director and playwright Fabio Grossi was born in Rome in 1958. He made his theatre debut in 1977, and subsequently proceeded to work in all the other performing arts, from theatre to cinema, from television to radio, from voice-overs to commercials.
He has collaborated with some of the most important Italian directors: from Ronconi to Puecher, from Fenoglio to Nanni, Navello and so on. Among the most significant theatre roles worth mentioning are Polonius in Hamlet and Tiresias in Oedipus Rex, both directed by Alberto Di Stasio, and Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Riccardo Cavallo. In March 2010 he staged, for Eliseo Ragazzi, Papageno and the Magic Flute, an unconventional interpretation of W.A. Mozart’s famous opera The Magic Flute.
Fabio started working in cinema in 1981 by acting in several Italian comedies. Subsequently, in 1988, he moved onto more serious roles, starring in films such as Scugnizzi by Nanni Loy, Vajont, Fatti della banda della Magliana, and L’amico di famiglia by Paolo Sorrentino. In 2014 he starred in Sebastiano Riso’s movie Più buio di mezzanotte, presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the ‘Semaine de la Critique’ section. He also took part in various television programs, working with, among others, Romolo Siena, Giancarlo Nicotra, Nanni Loy and Renzo Arbore. He has also been very active in fiction, working in Le ragazze di Piazza di Spagna, La dottoressa Giò, Commesse 2, La tassista and in some TV movies such as Il tesoro di Damasco, Gioco di specchi, Dio ci ha creato gratis.
In the early 2000s he started to concentrate more on directing and writing for theatre. His first literary work was a representation of the passion, titled Ecce homo, based on an Umbrian laude from 1200. In June 2003 he staged the show Lapilli – Suoni e voci dall’isola, starring Leo Gullotta, together with musical ensemble Al Qantarah. During the 2007/2008 season he presented, under the auspices of the Eliseo theatre, Gender gangup here, a new drama taking inspiration from H. Ibsen’s drama Ghosts. His collaboration with Leo Gullotta continued with L’uomo, la bestia e la virtù for the Eliseo theatre, Minnazza, a journey through Sicilian literature, The Merry Wives of Windsor, which saw Leo Gullotta playing the role of Falstaff for the first time, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, produced in 2012 by the Teatro Stabile in Catania. During the 2014/2015 season he presented the story of Calogero Montante, based on a text by Gaetano Savatteri, in a show produced by the Teatro Stabile in Catania titled La volata di Calò, which was very warmly welcomed both by the public and critics. In the 2015/2016 and 2016/17 seasons, he directed Noël Coward‘s Blithe Spirit, starring Leo Gullotta.
In collaboration with Co.As.It – Museo Italiano and the IIC Sydney
Generously sponsored by:
Andrew & Lina Gullotta of Matraville Medical Centre
Reservation no longer available