Francesca Garolla

Francesca Garolla studied Philosophy for a while at the University of Milan, but later graduated in directing at the Paolo Grassi Academy of Dramatic Arts. 

Even during her time at the Academy, she began collaborating with Teatro i, a theater research venue in Milan, as a dramaturg, author, and performer, becoming part of the artistic direction and a partner of the theater. Since 2010, projects focused on contemporary emerging writing and dramaturgy have been the focus of her work. 

Over the years, she has developed an independent career as an author, which has often taken her to France, where her texts have been translated and presented. Among these are: 

N.N. Figli di nessuno, a text that addresses the inherent difficulties in the generational transition between fathers and sons, was selected as part of the Face à face – Parole di Francia per scene d’Italia project, and presented in four theaters: Le Théâtre – Scène Nationale de Saint-Nazaire, the Festival Ring / La Manufacture – Centre Dramatique National Nancy-Lorraine, and the Théâtre National Populaire de Villeurbanne La Colline – Lyon. 

Solo di me – se non fossi stata Ifigenia sarei Alcesti o Medea, a reinterpretation of the tragedy that addresses the theme of femininity linked to that of sacrifice, was presented by La Chartreuse – Centre National des écritures du spectacle during the Avignon Festival 2015 and translated, published, and presented in Romania at the Teatrul Odeon in Bucharest as part of the European project Fabulamundi Playwriting Europe. 

Non correre Amleto, a reflection on death and the magical thinking that it should strike only by “logical consequence”, was selected in the Palmarès of the Maison Antoine Vitez in 2018 and noted by La Comédie Française in 2019. 

Starting from 2016, she began a complex project linked to a trilogy on the theme of freedom composed of three texts: Tu es libre, Per la vita, Se ci fosse luce. 

Tu es libre was realized within two long artistic residencies at La Chartreuse – Centre National des écritures du spectacle in Villeneuve Lez Avignon, thanks to the support of the Programme Odyssée – ACCR, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, and in Italy, through the DE.MO. – Movin’Up project and the SPECIAL DE.MO./MOVIN’UP PRIZE promoted by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism – General Directorate for Performing Arts together with GAI – Association for the Circuit of Young Italian Artists. The text was translated into French with the contribution of the Maison Antoine Vitez and was presented during the Rencontres d’été de la Chartreuse during the Avignon Festival 2017; Tu es libre was also noted by the Comédie Française as one of the most significant texts of the French season 2017/2018 and was a finalist for the Riccione Prize in 2017. In 2020, it was staged at the Piccolo Teatro Studio Melato under the direction of Renzo Martinelli. 

In 2020/2021, she was the only European laureate in the playwriting section of the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, where she wrote Se ci fosse luce, the third part of a trilogy on freedom, inspired by the events of the Moro kidnapping, which she directed in 2023 thanks to a co-production between LAC – Lugano Arte e Cultura and ERT-Emilia Romagna Teatro. The text was selected within the context of Artcena – aide à la production. 

 In 2022, again thanks to an artistic residency in France, she completed her latest text, Per la vita, supported by the Italian Cultural Institute of Paris, which presented it to the public in a bilingual version. 

In the same year, she won the Valeria Moriconi Future of the Stage Award, thanks to the nomination of Emma Dante. 

Additionally, her works have been translated into Czech, Romanian, and English, and she is a selected author in the European project Fabulamundi – Playwriting Europe. 

She is a supervisor and consultant in the creation of theatrical texts, podcasts, and film subjects. 

 Parallel to her authorial path, she delves into the field of education, teaching playwriting and creative writing, text analysis, and stage dramaturgy, both to professionals and beginners, in Italy, Switzerland, and France. 

YOU ARE FREE
Characters: 4 women, 2 men –  available in Italian and French
Haner left for Syria. She joined Daesh. She has adhered to a social, cultural and ethical system entirely different from the one we belong to.
But Haner does not have Middle Eastern origins, she is not a migrant, she is not an outcast, she has not been manipulated and she is not mad. Haner is a young French woman who can do and can be whatever she wants.
Haner is free to choose and so she does, she chooses her own freedom. A fierce freedom that can’t be controlled, defined or interpreted, a freedom that goes beyond the value of death and life. An improbable, obscene, incredible freedom.
Can we understand the reason of Haner’s choice? Is there a reason? Can we accept a kind of freedom that doesn’t consider life valuable? A freedom that doesn’t consider the individual as something precious to be protected, but only a function or fragment of a community? A freedom that kills?
Only seven days, seven as seven are the days of creation in the Bible and the Koran, and there is only the time of the show to understand everything.
Yet, if we are really free, we should be able to tolerate the freedom of others. Whatever it is.

DON’T RUN HAMLET
Characters: 1 man, 1 woman – available in Italian
May 29, 1993, former Yugoslavia, War. An ambush to a humanitarian aid train near a road called Diamond Route.
Three people are killed and two escape.
Three dead and two alive.
These are the facts.
One of the victims was my uncle and I was less than twelve years old when he died.
He did not try to escape, he stood still, motionless, and was hit by three bullets.
They found the body a couple of days later. Without shoes.
I wonder why.
Death, who does not like formalities, left him naked. A ridiculous thing.
One of his sisters at the funeral said that she had dreamed him. And he said: “It was enough for others not to run and it would be all right. That was enough. Just that.
Just don’t run, to stay alive. ”
Writing takes this episodic, autobiographical and chronicle (or story) element into account, seeking, through two parallel monologues, to find a meaning to something that does not have it: pain.
And death appears for what it is: stupid and ridiculous.
But what death am I really talking about? His? Mine? Ours?
We all have our own death.

N.N.
No judgement, no moralism nor nostalgic gaze, only an analysis of the present through the eyes of a generation born in the 80’s and even in the 90’s. A generation which haven’t seen nor lived the fervour of recent history. Nevertheless it brings the invisible scars of this history: sons struggling to metaphorically kill their parents and who, unable to elaborate loss, cannot become adults and reconcile with history. NOMEN NESCIO, Latin for ‘name unknown’. N.N. was a formula used to identify the ‘sons of nobody’. Son of N.N., son of unknown father, without a name, therefore without history. N.N. as in ‘no name’, as in ‘nothing’, as no thing.

SOLO DI ME. Se non fossi stata Ifigenia sarei Alcesti o Medea
Three women who could be one, a daughter, a wife, a mother. Iphigenia, Alcestis, Medea, in a rewrite in which they meet for the first time and dialogue with eachother. Three ways of living this world, three experiences, one point in common: sacrifice. If it is true that humans are ‘social animals’ and that women in particular seem to find a better definition of themselves in relation with the other, as daughters of, lovers of or mothers of, it is also true that there is a constant search for an autonomous self-affirmation. Iphigenia tries to become heroine through her death by her father’s hand, Alcestis finds the possibility to become a saint by giving herself up, and Medea, through the homicide of her sons, can become a goddess, who decides upon life and death.

Don’t run, Hamlet

“Don’t run” is something you say to children, a warning, a reprimand. If you start running and you’re not careful, there’s a risk of losing your balance, there’s a risk of not seeing if a car is coming when you cross the street, there’s even a risk of dying. 

There’s a risk that death will appear for what it is: stupid. 

 On May 29, 1993, a convoy of humanitarian aid headed to the cities of Vitez and Zavidovići – former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina – was attacked by a military band near a road called Diamond Route. Three people were killed, while two managed to escape into the woods. 

One of the three victims was my uncle, and I was less than twelve years old when he died. 

His death consists of fragments of memories. What is known is only that he did not try to escape, his companions started running and he stood still, motionless, hit by three point-blank bullets. They found him a couple of days later, exactly where he was supposed to be, but without his shoes. Death, which doesn’t care about formalities, left him barefoot. Ridiculous. 

One of his sisters told at the funeral that she dreamed of him and in the dream he told her: “It was enough for the others not to start running and everything would have been fine.” 

They simply shouldn’t have started running. 

 What happened to the heroic death that the ancients sing of? What does it mean to give meaning to grief? How does one death appear more significant, not to say right or acceptable, than another? 

The writing takes this news event, or history, as a pretext, and from there it unfolds through two parallel monologues. A man and a woman, a couple, who talk about a death. But which death are they really talking about? 

The dramatic progression follows the steps of an investigation, the facts, the clues, the evidence, in an attempt to make something logical that is not logical. 

The two protagonists share the stage space yet do not dialogue. They live in different times in search of “something” that perhaps, or perhaps not, would relieve their pain. They investigate answers they do not find, meanings that do not exist, and, like any Hamlet, they seek a truth that seems sillier than it should be.