Silvio Gioia

actor, performer, entertainer

Since 1981 I love to play. When I grew up, since people used to tell me that I should have worked, I always chose to be together with others. So I have been working as a waiter, entertainer, cultural mediator until I realized “When I grow up I want to make theatre!” .

And it’s not by chance that in English, French and German the verb to play, jouer and spielen means both *to perform* and *to entertain*.

Therefore, in 2003 I started a training to seriously begin playing theatre.

When my dear friend Etta Ragusa told me “Look! You got a shadow!”  I started playing with it as well, and since then we never separate… Ok, no one can separate from his/her own shadow, but I formed an artistic duo with mine called “Silvio-Ombra” (Silvio-Shadow) and together we travel around Italy looking for theatres, squares, schools and associations, to find other shadows to play with.

Clownerie: Jan Algie, Matisse. Clowning: Jan Algie, Matisse.

Acting: Cantieri Teatrali Koreja (Lecce, Italy), Astragali Theatre Company (Lecce, Italy); training on brechtian theatre, children’s theatre and the Comedy of Art, with the director Carlo Formogoni.

Theatre Therapy: National Federation of Theatre Therapy (Bari, Italy)

Participatory Theatre: Parteciparte (Rome, Italy)

Shadow Theatre: L’Asina sull’Isola Theatre Company, Ingo Mewes (Berlin, Germany), but most of my work is self-taught.

Theatre Companies for which I performed:

– Cantieri Teatrali Koreja (Lecce, Italy)
– Teatro Delle Forche (Massafra – Taranto, Italy)
– Compagnia Settimo Cielo (Rome, Italy)
– Compagnia Dell’Altopiano (Taranto, Italy)
– Gruppo  Motumus (Brindisi, Italy)

Main figure theatre festivals and buskers festivals to which I took part:

2016
– National Children’s Theatre Festival (Padova, Italy)
– Circonauta (Salento, Apulia, Italy)
– La Ghironda (Otranto, Lecce, Italy)
– Ti fiabo e ti racconto (Bari, Italy)

2015
– Uovo kids (Milan, Italy)
– Lector in fabula (Bari, Italy),
– Kribis Krabis (Bolzano, Italy)
– City of books (Bari, Italy)
– Tolfarte (Rome, Italy),
– Carpineto Buskers (Rome, Italy)
– Alchemica (Perugia, Italy)

2014
– Marte live (Rome, Italy)
– La Ghironda (Taranto, Italy)
– Salento Buskers Festival (Lecce, Italy)
– Le fiere del teatro (Treviso, Italy)
– Burattini sotto l’albero, (Teatro casa di Pulcinella, Bari, Italy)
– Arrivano dal mare (Forlì, Italy)

from 2010 to 2015
– Ostuni Buskers Festival (Ostuni, Brindisi, Italy)

Theatre shows:

2012
– Snow White, Teatro Delle Forche, directed by Carlo Formogoni

2011
– Hamlet, in the role of Hamlet, Teatro Dell’Altopiano, directed by Carlo Formogoni

2010
– Little red riding hood, Teatro “delle Forche, directed by Carlo Formogoni

2007
– The two impostors, in the role of Harlequin, Teatro Dell’Altopiano, directed by Carlo Formogoni

2006
– Theatres of Py, Cantieri Teatrali Koreja, directed by Olivier Py
– Antigone, Teatro Delle Forche, directed by Carlo Formogoni

2005
– The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Teatro Delle Forche, directed by Carlo Formogoni
– Ruzante, Teatro Delle Forche, directed by Carlo Formogoni

2004
– Theatrum Chemicum, Gruppo Motumus, directed by Maurizio Ciccolella
– The athlete and the virgin, Gruppo Motumus, directed by Maurizio Ciccolella

Shadow Theatre shows

2016
– If you come closer, performed by the refugees and asylum seekers welcomed into the Sprar project of  GUS – Gruppo Umana Solidarietà, directed by Silvio Gioia and Claudia Signoretti.

2015
– Henry’s dream, by Settimo Cielo Teatro and Silvio Gioia.
– Dear Friend, performed by the refugees and asylum seekers welcomed into the Sprar project of  GUS – Gruppo Umana Solidarietà, directed by Silvio Gioia

2014
– One Thousand and One Nights, music by Radiodervish and shadow theatre by Silvio Gioia
– banDita, directed and performed by Silvio Gioia
– ConTatto, performed by people with disabilities of the centre “Eridano” (Brindisi, Italy), directed by Silvio Gioia

2013
– And Baby Jesus came between the ox and the donkey, directed and performed by Silvio Gioia
– What do you not expect,performed by people with disabilities of the Eridano Centre (Brindisi, Italy), directed by Silvio Gioia
– What words do not say, performed by patients of the Mental Health Centre of Ceglie Messapica (Brindisi, Italy)), directed by Silvio Gioia
– Germogli, directed and performed by Silvio Gioia and Marzia Ghezzo, Theatre dance by Alberto Cacopardi

2012
– Scene d’autore, directed and performed by Silvio Gioia and Marzia Ghezzo

2011
– Angels, performed by members of the association for people with disabilities “AIAS” of Ceglie Messapica (Brindisi, Italy), directed by Silvio Gioia

2010
– The little ant, directed and performed by Silvio Gioia and Mariangela Recchia

Awards:
– Marte Live art Biennial, Roma 2014
– RIC Festival, Rieti 2014
– Tolfarte, 2013
– finalist at National Children’s Theatre Festival,Padova 2016