Tino Caspanello

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Tino Caspanello
Tino Caspanello.jpg
Tino Caspanello in 2018
Born (1960-11-02) November 2, 1960 (age 64)
Pagliara (Messina), Italy
NationalityItalian
Occupation(s)Playwright, writer, director, actor, scenographer
Notable workMari (The Sea), Quadri di una rivoluzione (Pictures from a revolution), Orli (Bounds)

Tino Caspanello (born in Pagliara, Sicily, on November 2, 1960) is an Italian playwright, writer, theater director, actor and scenographer.
He is known for his minimalist and poetic theatre, which explores silence, human relationships, and the fragile balance between isolation and communication.
Since founding the company Teatro Pubblico Incanto in 1993, Caspanello has written and staged numerous plays that have been performed across Italy and internationally, with translations into several languages. His theatrical works — often set in liminal spaces — have earned him national and international recognition, including the Premio Riccione Teatro (Special Jury Prize, 2003) for Mari (The sea), among his most significant plays.

Contents

Career

Tino Caspanello graduated in Scenography in 1983 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia. [1] From 1984 to 1993 he worked as a scenographer and assistant director in various theatre companies.

In 1993 he founded the company Teatro Pubblico Incanto, with which he has staged, between 1993 and 2025, forty-five productions. Some of these were based on his own plays, while others were adaptations of works such as A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville, La favola del figlio cambiato by Luigi Pirandello, Elisabetta e Limone by Juan Rodolfo Wilcock, Seascape by Edward Albee, and Sik-Sik, l’artefice magico by Eduardo De Filippo.

In 2003 his play Mari (The Sea) received the Special Jury Prize of the Premio Riccione Teatro. [2] Mari (The Sea) was presented at the Santarcangelo dei Teatri Festival in 2004, [3] translated into French by Frank and Bruno La Brasca, and staged in 2009 in Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, and Strasbourg. In 2011 it was performed in Paris at the Théâtre de l’Atelier, directed by Jean-Louis Benoît. [4] The play has also been produced by the French companies Cie La Strada, La Lune Blanche, L’Instant avant l’Aube, Cie Krapo Roy, and Compagnie L’Aronde. Mari (The Sea) was later presented in Polish at the Border Festival in Cieszyn (June 2012) and at the Avignon Off Festival (July 2016) by La Compagnie La Lune Blanche. [5]

In May 2005 Caspanello directed Malìa, based on the novel Lunaria by Vincenzo Consolo, which premiered in Marseille. In May 2008 he directed Handscape, inspired by various blogs, which premiered at the Schauspielhaus in Graz, Austria. [6]

In May 2011, together with other playwrights from Belgium, Turkey, Canada, and Poland, he was a guest of the Troisième Bureau in Grenoble, [7] as part of the Festival Regards Croisés, during which his play Nta ll’aria (In the air), translated into French by Julie Quénehen with the support of Maison Antoine Vitez, was presented. [8]

In July 2011 Caspanello directed the Pubblico Incanto Artheatre Festival. In 2013 his play Interno, translated into Greek by Giorgia Karvounaki, was presented in Athens at the 2nd Focus of Contemporary Theatre, held at the Institut Français d’Athènes.

Caspanello has also taught Direction and Scenography in the Master Teatro Euro-Mediterraneo at the University of Messina (2008); Playwriting in the Master Animas at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo (2011 and 2012); Playwriting at DAMS – University of Messina (2012, 2017, 2018); and Theory and Technique of Scenography at DAMS – University of Messina (2016).

Between 2016 and 2020 he directed the project WRITE – International Playwriting Residency, [9] held in Mandanici (Messina, Italy), involving playwrights from the Netherlands, France, Poland, Spain, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy.

In November 2016 Caspanello was at the University of Chicago Center at the University of Hong Kong to stage Mari (The Sea) with Cinzia Muscolino. [10]

In 2021 his play Quadri di una rivoluzione (Pictures from a Revolution) was produced in Pristina by the National Theatre of Kosovo. [11] In 2023 the same play, translated into French by Christophe Mileschi, was staged in Paris by Artanso – Collectif Artistique at the Théâtre Le Funambule Montmartre. [12]

In 2024 his play Orli (Bounds), translated into Ukrainian by Neda Nejdana, was presented as a reading in Kyiv.

In 2025 both Orli (Bounds) and Quadri di una rivoluzione (Pictures from a Revolution), translated into English by Haun Saussy, were staged in Santa Monica, California, at the City Garage Theatre, and in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Upstream Theater.

In addition to writing, directing, and designing plays, Caspanello continues to dedicate himself to theatre education, leading drama workshops in various public and private institutions. [13]

Plays

As of 2025, Tino Caspanello has written twenty-seven plays. His primary language of writing is Italian, although four of his works — Mari, Rosa, Nta ll’aria, and Malastrada — are written in Sicilian, reflecting his interest in regional identity and linguistic nuance.

Caspanello’s plays have been translated into several languages, including English, French, Albanian, Turkish, Greek, Ukrainian, Polish, and Chinese, and have been presented in readings and productions in various European countries, in the USA and in China. His dramatic output forms a consistent body of work that combines minimalism, attention to silence, and a focus on the human relationships that emerge in everyday life.

The following list presents his works in chronological order (most recent first):

Novels

Outside the theatre, Caspanello has also developed a body of narrative work that extends the themes and tone of his dramaturgy. He has written two novels published in Italy. Salvo (Caracò Editore, 2016) is a short novel that explores themes of solitude, identity, and the relationship between the individual and the community, set against the background of a small Sicilian town. His second novel, Santa, la guerra (Edizioni La Gru, 2022), combines elements of allegory and realism to address the impact of war and the persistence of hope in everyday life. Both works reflect Caspanello’s characteristic attention to silence, empathy, and the complexity of human communication.

Style and Poetics

Tino Caspanello’s theatrical writing is characterized by minimalism and a focus on silence, time, and human relationships. His plays are often set in small domestic or rural environments, where everyday gestures gain particular expressive significance. Dialogue is sparse, and silence functions as an active element of communication rather than a mere absence of speech.

A recurring aspect of Caspanello’s dramaturgy is the exploration of what remains unspoken and the limits of language. His theatre examines the difficulty of expressing emotion and the tension between speech and silence. The pacing of his plays is deliberately slow and contemplative, emphasizing pauses, movement, and atmosphere.

Caspanello’s writing frequently draws on the Sicilian landscape and its natural elements — the sea, the light, and the wind — which often appear as motifs connected to memory, distance, and the passage of time. Although rooted in a specific geographical and cultural context, his work addresses universal themes such as solitude, communication, and the search for meaning. [17]

His Polittico del silenzio — comprising Kyrie, Agnus, and Ecce Homo — brings together his main concerns with silence and listening. Critics have compared Caspanello’s minimalism to that of Samuel Beckett and Jon Fosse, while also highlighting his distinctive Mediterranean context and tone. [18]

Theatrical direction

Caspanello’s directing style is noted for its minimalist approach and close attention to the interplay between space, silence, and human presence. His stage productions are characterized by essential, often abstract settings that foreground the rhythm of dialogue and the physical expressiveness of the actors. Silence plays a crucial role in his directorial language, serving not as absence but as a space of meaning and emotional resonance.

Recurring themes in his work include the fragility of communication, the passing of time, and the subtle dynamics of everyday relationships within small communities. Caspanello’s direction frequently balances realism and poetic abstraction, creating a theatre that is both intimate and universal in tone.

Through his ongoing collaboration with the Teatro Pubblico Incanto theatre company, which he co-founded, Caspanello has developed a coherent aesthetic that unites his work as playwright, director, and set designer, characterized by minimalist staging and a focus on silence and the nuances of everyday communication.

Here are some of the shows directed by Tino Caspanello, the place and year of their premiere:

Publications

In Italy the plays of Tino Caspanello are collected in four volumes published by Editoria & Spettacolo, while abroad his plays are translated and published by: Éditions Espaces 34 and Presses Universitaires du Midi - PUM in France, Les Oiseaux de Nuit in Belgium, Laertes Books in the United States, Mitos Boyut in Turkey and Qendra Multimedia in Kosovo.

Awards and recognitions

2019 - Palmarès Eurodram, Albanian Committee of the Maison d'Europe et d'Orient in Paris for Mari (The sea).
2019 - Special mention from Migration: Harbour Europe in London to Orli (Bounds).
2018 - Award of the National Association of Theatre Critics for Write - Residence of international dramaturgy [28] [29]
2014 - Palmarès Eurodram, Italian Committee of the Maison d’Europe et d’Orient in Paris for Quadri di una rivoluzione (Picture from a revolution).
2008 - Award of the National Association of Theatre Critics [30] . [31]
2003 - Special Prize of the Jury of Premio Riccione Teatro [32] for Mari (The sea)'.

References

  1. ↑ "Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vannucci". ABA Perugia. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  2. ↑ "Premio Riccione Teatro". Riccione Teatro. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  3. ↑ "Santarcangelo Festival". Santarcangelo Festival. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  4. ↑ "Théâtre Atelier". Théâtre Atelier. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  5. ↑ "Festival d'Avignon – Official Website". Festival d’Avignon. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  6. ↑ ""BLOG TXT – Festival am Schauspielhaus Graz"". Theaterkompass (in German). 14 May 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  7. ↑ "Troisième bureau – Official Website". Troisième bureau (in French). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  8. ↑ "Maison Antoine Vitez – International Center for Theatre Translation". Maison Antoine Vitez (in French). Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  9. ↑ "WRITE – Residenza internazionale di drammaturgia". Associazione Nazionale Critici di Teatro (in Italian). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  10. ↑ "October E-News 2023" (PDF). University of Chicago Francis and Rose Yuen Campus in Hong Kong. October 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  11. ↑ Xhemile Hysenaj (18 February 2021). "'Pamje revolucioni', shfaqja që flet për revolucionet e munguara dhe ato që presin të shpërthejnë". KultPlus (in Albanian). Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  12. ↑ "Tableaux d'une révolution — compagnie Artanso de Tino Caspanello". Théâtre Le Funambule Montmartre (in French). Le Funambule Montmartre. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  13. ↑ Redazione (20 May 2024). "Apokàlupsis: trionfo teatrale a Tindari del Liceo Caminiti-Trimarchi di S. Teresa". Tempostretto (in Italian). Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  14. ↑ "Salvo: Il romanzo di Tino Caspanello". Armadillo Furioso (in Italian). 25 May 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  15. ↑ ""Santa, la guerra" di Tino Caspanello, un romanzo che contiene, scaglia e salva la vita". Infomessina (in Italian). 11 December 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  16. ↑ "Santa, la guerra: il ritratto di una guerriera firmato dal messinese Caspanello". La Gazzetta del Sud (in Italian). 5 January 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  17. ↑ "[La dramaturgie de l'intime de Tino Caspanello]" (PDF). Érudit. 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  18. ↑ "Tino Caspanello. Il potere della parola e del silenzio". teatroecritica (in Italian). 27 September 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  19. ↑ "NOI SIAMO QUI – regia :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}". Sipario (in Italian). 8 December 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  20. ↑ "ERA OTTOBRE". Centro Studi Teatro (in Italian). Centro Studi sul Teatro Napoletano, Meridionale ed Europeo. 7 March 2025. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  21. ↑ "Bar Stella. Se fosse un dipinto sarebbe una delle immagini di interni di solitudine di Hopper". TempoStretto (in Italian). 10 February 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  22. ↑ "Quadri di una rivoluzione — recensione". Dramma.it (in Italian). Associazione Culturale Dramma.it. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  23. ↑ "Interno – recensione". Dramma.it (in Italian). Associazione Culturale Dramma.it. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  24. ↑ Emanuela Ferrauto (9 February 2013). "Malastrada – recensione". Dramma.it (in Italian). Associazione Culturale Dramma.it. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  25. ↑ Emanuela Ferrauto (19 November 2017). "'NTA LL'ARIA – recensione". Dramma.it (in Italian). Associazione Culturale Dramma.it. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  26. ↑ Emanuela Ferrauto (17 January 2014). "Mari – recensione". Dramma.it (in Italian). Associazione Culturale Dramma.it. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  27. ↑ "Quel «nostro mare che brilla», vent'anni di repliche di «Mari» del messinese Tino Caspanello". Gazzetta del Sud (in Italian). 4 May 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  28. ↑ Redazione dell’Associazione Critici di Teatro (17 December 2018). "Premio della Critica 2018". Associazione Nazionale Critici di Teatro (in Italian). Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  29. ↑ "WRITE receives the ANCT Critics' Award 2018 and prepares for WRITE Winter in Scaletta Zanclea". LetteraEmme (in Italian). 11 December 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  30. ↑ "Associazione Nazionale Critici di Teatro". Critici di Teatro (in Italian). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  31. ↑ Redazione dell’Associazione Critici di Teatro (18 November 2008). "Premio della Critica 2008". Associazione Nazionale Critici di Teatro (in Italian). Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  32. ↑ "Premio Riccione Teatro". Riccione Teatro. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
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