Revisiting a passion

The Revenants teatro is a newborn. “It came as a resolution for the New Year,” says Michela Contini, who cofounded the group, together with Marco Fraschetti and Natascia Colautti. “We started to refer to ourselves as ‘ the Revenants’ — joking about the fact that we ‘ came back’ on the theatre scene after we considered giving it up,” says Michela, 37, who holds a doctorate in literature and philosophy. “Marco just got a new job, I just had a baby, and Natascia was tied up with work. It’s not easy to balance your daily commitments and your passions. But, as a drama teacher once told me, once the theatre bug enters your heart, there is no other way to deal with it than giving it what it asks of you. So, following our dreams and passions, we ‘ came back’ as the Revenants. We chose to keep the English name for the group, but we added “teatro” just to make clear the Italian essence of our company.”

The group aims to become a cultural landmark for the Italian community ( and lovers of Italy) in Dubai. “We are planning to work in a double direction: translating a few Italian plays in English, and vice- versa. The Italian theatrical heritage has many great masterpieces to offer and we want Dubai to know and appreciate them.” L’audizione, written by the Italian comedians P Petrolo and C Gregori, will be their first production for Short + Sweet 2017.

What are the biggest challenges they face in running their outfit? “We are not a professional theatre company, meaning that we don’t get paid for our performances. Therefore, we can’t carry out our drama activity as a full- time job, needing to deal with other “morning” professions. Other issues follow like the renting cost, procedures, approvals, etc.” But are things changing for the better? “Definitely,” she says. “The ‘ quality’ of the audience has grown alongside the quality of the performances. Watching a play is not being seen as entertainment alone, but more and more as a cultural event.”