Alessandro Onorato has a reputation for provocation.
The Italian writer-director and his company I Birbanti are back in the UK with two shows this summer.
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In his hometown of Milan, Italian writer and director Alessandro Onorato and his company I Birbanti have something of a reputation for provocation.
“I Birbanti translates as something like the rascals, or the rogues, or the bad boys,” says Onorato. “When we started, we wanted to do comedy in an immersive way. Then, we started merging theatre with other artforms like art and music and video. We’ve done dramas, too. We’ve done a little bit of everything. Whatever we do, though, we try to be different. We try to provoke people.”
The UK has already had a taste of Onorato’s explosive work. Kalissa Faust, I Birbanti’s experimental take on Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, ran at the 2014 Camden Fringe, and The Last King of Porn, the company’s free adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel Snuff, ran at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe.
“I remember at one of the first performances we did of The Last King of Porn in Edinburgh, the theatre was packed, and a critic was sat in the first row,” Onorato laughs. “After 20 minutes, he got up and left. I had said in an interview beforehand that I hoped someone would leave the theatre, but I didn’t really want it to be a reviewer.”
Soon, audiences will have another chance to catch Onorato and I Birbanti. The Last King Of Porn – a slightly slimmed-down, slightly shorter version – is running at Brighton Fringe for four performances from June 2, then at Colchester Fringe later in the year. I Birbanti’s new show, a two-hander entitled Let’s Try Gay, meanwhile, will be running at the Edinburgh Fringe this August.
“I had wanted to adapt Snuff for a few years before I eventually did,” Onorato says of the former. “In the novel, the story is about a legendary porn actress ending her career by sleeping with 600 men on camera. I completely rewrote it, swapping the gender roles, making the porn star a man. All that happens off-stage, though. The real drama is about the women waiting to sleep with him on-stage.”
“I wanted to do something a bit drastic that people would talk about,” continues Onorato. “It has had all sorts of reviews, one star, two stars, three stars, four stars, five stars. People have said it is sleazy. People have said that it is pulp trash. Maybe they are right, but if it is sleazy pulp trash, it is sleazy pulp trash that has been well-written and well-acted, and is very entertaining.”
“Whatever we do, we try to be different. We try to provoke people…”
Onorato was born in Rome but grew up in Milan and started writing at a young age. “I am an author at heart,” he says. “I have spent most of my life writing since I was fourteen. I’ve written fifteen plays, two novels, one collection of short stories, several articles and poems, and two short films. I love writing more than anything else.”
He started working in theatre as an actor at eighteen, appearing with various Milan-based companies. In 2008, he travelled to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time, and it was seeing the energy and industry of theatremakers there that persuaded him to start his own company, through which he could write and direct his own shows. I Birbanti was born in 2011.
“It took time to establish the company,” says Onorato. “We were young, we did everything by ourselves, and we didn’t have anyone supporting us. Naturally we made some mistakes, but we always had a lot of enthusiasm. The turning point was when we did Kalissa Faust in 2014. It had a lot of video and electronic music. We took it to London, and suddenly everyone was interested in us.”
At times, Onorato has found Milan’s conservative theatre scene slightly frustrating. “Many people’s idea of theatre over here is a bit old and outdated,” he explains. “I remember everyone was very shocked by a production of The Exorcist here a few years back, the kind of thing the UK was doing twenty years ago. It can be fun, though, to be honest. It makes it easier to provoke people.”
Since Kalissa Faust, international touring has become more and more essential to I Birbanti’s modus operandi. Performing shows and provoking people abroad – and particularly in the UK – gives the company’s shows a certain cache when they return to Italy, which helps to market them. It’s a cycle, explains Onorato. Taking a show to the UK means the show is successful back in Milan, which allows him to take his next show back to the UK again. Hence, he adds, new show Let’s Try Gay.
“It’s a two-handed comedy, featuring two friends who get drunk and decide to shoot a gay porn film together,” he says. “It’s partly – only partly – inspired by myself and my best friend, the actor Filippo Bottini. It’s about male friendship, and about life, and about the difference between being twenty and thirty. It’s funny and its cringey and its actually quite emotional, too.”
What do you want to do?
As for me, my dream is to see the shows I write performed by great actors and staged by great directors. That would make me more happy than anything.
As for the company, I want us to keep making exciting, provocative work together and keep having fun while we do it. I want us to make new shows, find new stages, and tour to new towns and cities.
What support do you need to get there?
I’d like to build a stronger connection to the UK theatre industry. I’d like to participate in more festivals, to stage my shows in more theatres, and to have conversations with more producers about taking them to more places.
How can people find out more about you?
They can come and see The Last King of Porn in Brighton or Colchester, and they can come see Let’s Try Gay in Edinburgh, and they can have a chat with us when they do. People can look at our website, too, or send us an email.
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Fergus Morgan