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Italian comedian Enrico Bonavera to perform, give workshops in Jakarta, Bali
Courtesy of Italian Cultural Institute JakartaFamous Italian comedian Enrico Bonavera, considered a master in his field, is ready to send Jakartans into delightful laughter with his masquerade comedy masterpiece The Secrets of Harlequin, while giving various workshops and lectures in Jakarta and Bali during his visit to Indonesia
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Courtesy of Italian Cultural Institute Jakarta
Famous Italian comedian Enrico Bonavera, considered a master in his field, is ready to send Jakartans into delightful laughter with his masquerade comedy masterpiece The Secrets of Harlequin, while giving various workshops and lectures in Jakarta and Bali during his visit to Indonesia.
The performance itself — organized by the Embassy of Italy in Jakarta and the Italian Cultural Institute — will take place on Aug. 3 starting at 7 p.m. at GoetheHaus Jakarta on Jl. Sam Ratulangi, Menteng, Central Jakarta. The piece will feature improvised dialogue and colorful expressions through the character Harlequin, or Arlecchino in Italian, played by Bonavera.
During his stay in Indonesia, Bonavera will also conduct workshops for students, actors and theater lovers a day after the performance (Aug. 4) in the auditorium of the Italian Cultural Institute building on Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto in Menteng, Central Jakarta. The workshop will help participants get a better understanding
of the comedy art form commedia dell’arte (comedy of the profession). It will be conducted in collaboration with the Teater Mandiri troupe, headed by prominent senior Indonesian playwright Putu Wijaya and the Bentara Budaya Jakarta cultural center.
A few days after the Aug. 4 workshop in the Italian Cultural Institute in Jakarta, the master comedian is also set to give a lecture on the same topic in the Setia Darma House of Masks and Puppets in Ubud, Bali. The Bali public lecture, however, has yet to be confirmed.
The uniqueness of the piece lies in its showcase of various masked characters that perform their parts based on sketches or scenarios. The Secrets of Harlequin was born almost by chance, out of the desire to present masquerade comedy in a unique way, combining traditional structured scenes with an improvised plot. Bonavera will perform the piece on a minimalist stage, with a trunk and a chair as his only props. Masks crafted by Amleto and Donato Sartori will animate the spirit of the play.
Bonavera is known for playing multiple characters for his theatrical pieces. He is also a tutor for the commedia dell’arte academy at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, Italy as well as Shapkin Theater School in Moscow, Russia, while also teaching in several other institutions. He has won several awards, including Best Supporting Actor at the 1996 Borgio Verezzi Theater Festival and the Golden Harlequin Award in 2007 in Mantua, Italy.
Bonavera is a performer who has already traveled the globe — including Europe, the United States, Canada, South America (Chile, Brazil and Ecuador), North Africa (Algeria and Egypt) and Asia (Japan and China) — to stage one of his best-known pieces, Il Servitor di Due Padroni (The Servant of Two Masters), directed by George Strehler.
