_{La mia piccola trincea, directed by Paola Bigatto and Ambra D’Amico, and performed by students of the Accademia Teatrale Veneta, Teatro Junghans, Venice, December 2015}

As part of the commemorations for the centenary of the Great War, the Theatre Study Centre hosts the show La mia piccola trincea (My Little Trench), first performed by the students of the Accademia Teatrale Veneta in December 2015.

The event is part of the Veneto Region project … la guerre! la guerre! la guerre!, promoted by the drama school in collaboration with the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Musei Civici of Venice, with the aim of offering a different angle on the war and especially on the relationship between art and civil life.

Based on an idea by Maria Ida Biggi and directed by Paola Bigatto and Ambra D’Amico, La mia piccola trincea is inspired by the correspondence between Eleonora Duse and her daughter Enrichetta, published in Ma Pupa, Henriette. According to Gabriele D’Annunzio, the great diva’s style of writing is “rhythmical and spoken; it almost has her voice, eyes and even her gestures”.

The letters that will be read to the audience shape out an unusual narrative to the background of the events in the First World War and its impact on the life of the actress, who deeply sympathised with the suffering of the soldiers. Her powerful, direct testimony urges us to heed the lessons of history.