Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello, December 10 to 20, 2026

Hospitality Suite, the play by Roger Rueff directed and performed by Francesco Scianna with Sergio Romano, 2026 David di Donatello for best leading actor, Lorenzo Crovo and Fabrizio Romano, plays at the Teatro Vascello in Rome from December 10 to 20, 2026: Tuesday to Friday at 9:00 p.m., Saturday at 7:00 p.m., Sunday at 5:00 p.m., with the opening on Thursday, December 10 at 9:00 p.m. The theater is at via Giacinto Carini 78, 00152 Rome, in Monteverde Vecchio, bus 75 stops in front of the theater and lines 44, 710, 870 and 871 are indicated by the theater as useful for getting there, while by train you get off at Quattro Venti station. The show runs one hour and a quarter, in one act. Prices are not given on the show's page and are published by the theater on its own website, tickets are bought from the purchase button on the Vascello's official page, which links to the authorized presale circuit, or at the theater's box office.

Language: performed in Italian. No English version or English surtitles are announced.

The Italian translation is by Paola Ponti and Paola Ermenegildo, sets and lighting by Angelo Linzalata, costumes by Stefania Cempini, music by Paolo Spaccamonti. The show is a co-production of Marche Teatro, Goldenart Production, Teatro Biondo of Palermo and La Fabbrica dell'Attore, the Teatro Vascello's company.

Hospitality Suite at the Vascello: dates, times and tickets

Hospitality Suite stays at the Teatro Vascello for 11 days, from December 10 to 20, 2026, with a calendar covering two weekends.

The times

Tuesday to Friday the show starts at 9:00 p.m., Saturday at 7:00 p.m., Sunday at 5:00 p.m. The opening is Thursday, December 10 at 9:00 p.m. The two weekends, the 12th and 13th and the 19th and 20th of December, offer early times convenient for those who want to combine theater with dinner or an afternoon in the city.

75 minutes

The page indicates a running time of one hour and a quarter, in one act, without intermission. With the 9:00 p.m. performance you're out around 10:15, with the Sunday 5:00 p.m. one, shortly after 6:15.

Prices and purchase

The show's page does not give prices. The online purchase button leads to the authorized presale circuit, alternatively you can go by the theater's box office. The advice is to buy the weekend performances in good time, the most in demand.

The co-production

Hospitality Suite arises from the collaboration of four organizations: Marche Teatro, Goldenart Production, the Teatro Biondo of Palermo and La Fabbrica dell'Attore, the company that runs the Vascello. The play is performed by arrangement with Arcadia & Ricono Ltd, by kind permission of Roger Rueff.

The plot: three salesmen in a hotel suite

Hospitality Suite is set in a hotel suite during a corporate convention, where three salesmen of an important industrial company try to win over a potential client decisive for the company's fortunes, according to the Teatro Vascello's presentation.

The suite

The title indicates the hotel suite in which, during the convention, the salesmen receive clients. In our view it's a closed, artificial space, in which everyone plays a part: Rueff makes it the place of a drama behind closed doors.

The client to win over

The three salesmen wait for a crucial client. The company's success depends on that meeting, and the tension grows as the evening advances. It's a classic mechanism of theater: waiting for someone who has to arrive.

The masks that fall

The tight dialogue between the characters gradually reveals their vulnerabilities, ambitions and illusions, offering the audience a human cross-section that goes beyond the professional surface. The presentation speaks of a reflection on work, on relationships between people and on the existential questions each person asks over the course of life.

Identity, morality, choices

The text addresses, according to the theater, the themes of identity, morality and life choices. Three men in a room, a commercial goal, and beneath the surface the questions that work cannot hide.

Roger Rueff and The Big Kahuna

Roger Rueff is a writer of texts for theater, television and cinema, from his play Hospitality Suite came the film The Big Kahuna.

The 1999 film

The Big Kahuna is a 1999 film directed by John Swanbeck and based on the stage play Hospitality Suite. The screenplay is by Rueff himself. The leads were Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and Peter Facinelli.

From cinema to the stage

Whoever has seen the film knows the situation: three salesmen, a suite, an important client. Going back to the stage text means going back to its original form, with the dialogue at the center and the room as the only setting. The Italian translation by Paola Ponti and Paola Ermenegildo brings the text to the Vascello's stage.

A text about work

In our view Hospitality Suite belongs to that family of texts that use the world of sales to speak about what work does to people. The Vascello's presentation calls it a text of rare depth and topicality.

Francesco Scianna, director and lead

Francesco Scianna, born in Palermo on March 25, 1982, is an Italian actor who became known to the wider public as the male lead of Giuseppe Tornatore's Baarìa, in Hospitality Suite he directs and acts.

Beginnings in theater

Scianna began acting in theater already during his years at the scientific high school in Palermo. He debuted in 1997 with a recital of poems by Salvatore Quasimodo, received his first acting lessons from the voice actress Serena Michelotti and graduated from the Accademia nazionale d'arte drammatica. He also studied with Francesca Viscardi Leonetti.

Cinema

In 2002 he made his film debut with Cristina Comencini's Il più bel giorno della mia vita, followed in 2004 by Mario Martone's L'odore del sangue. On television he is in Andrea Porporati's film La luna e il lago and in the miniseries Il capo dei capi.

Baarìa

Success came in 2009, when he was the male lead of Giuseppe Tornatore's Baarìa, alongside the debutant Margareth Madè. The film did well at the box office, was chosen to represent Italy at the 2010 Oscars and was nominated for the Golden Globes.

After Baarìa

In the following years Scianna acted in Michele Placido's Vallanzasca, in Latin Lover, in the series La mafia uccide solo d'estate, where he plays, as already in Il capo dei capi, the brother-in-law of Claudio Gioè's character, and in the film Il filo invisibile, in which he is Simone, one of the two fathers at the center. He has also worked in international productions such as Timur Bekmambetov's Ben-Hur and Garth Davis's Mary Magdalene, and in 2026 he is in the cast of Pif's ...che Dio perdona a tutti.

Sergio Romano, 2026 David di Donatello

Sergio Romano, born in Brescia on April 11, 1965, won the 2026 David di Donatello for best leading actor for Francesco Sossai's Le città di pianura, as the Teatro Vascello's page also recalls.

Training

He graduated from the Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi in Milan. In 2002 he received the Premio Hystrio for acting, one of the awards of Italian theater.

Television

TV audiences know him as Commissario Carlo Maffei in the second series of L'onore e il rispetto, as Giovanni Spagnardi in Squadra antimafia from 2014, as the oncologist Pietro Santoro in Che Dio ci aiuti in 2019 and among the main characters of Romulus, between 2020 and 2022.

Theater and cinema

A stage actor, he collaborates with the company Carrozzeria Orfeo. In cinema he has acted, among others, in Leonardo D'Agostini's Il campione, Stefano Mordini's La scuola cattolica, Alessandro Tonda's Il nibbio and Paolo Strippoli's La valle dei sorrisi, before the lead role in Le città di pianura that earned him the David.

Lorenzo Crovo, Fabrizio Romano and the artistic team

Alongside Scianna and Sergio Romano, Lorenzo Crovo and Fabrizio Romano act in Hospitality Suite, the technical team is made up of Angelo Linzalata, Stefania Cempini and Paolo Spaccamonti.

The performers

Lorenzo Crovo and Fabrizio Romano complete the cast. The production photos published by the Vascello, signed by Giuseppe Distefano, show Scianna, Crovo and Sergio Romano together in the suite, and Fabrizio Romano on stage with Sergio Romano.

Sets, lighting and costumes

Angelo Linzalata signs sets and lighting, Stefania Cempini the costumes. In a text set in a single room, the set is decisive: it has to be credible as a hotel suite and, at the same time, become a cage for the characters.

The music

The music is by Paolo Spaccamonti. The assistant director is Luca Bargagna.

From cinema to the stage: two actors between two worlds

Hospitality Suite stages two actors whom the wider public knows mostly from the screen, but who both come from the theater.

Scianna, from high school to the Academy

Francesco Scianna began acting as a boy in Palermo, in his high school years, and graduated from the Accademia nazionale d'arte drammatica before reaching cinema with Cristina Comencini and Mario Martone. Directing Hospitality Suite brings him back to the stage in a double role, inside and outside the scene.

Romano, from the Paolo Grassi to the David

Sergio Romano trained at the Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi in Milan, won the Premio Hystrio in 2002 and collaborates with Carrozzeria Orfeo. The 2026 David di Donatello for Le città di pianura crowns a career built largely on the stage.

What changes in the hall

In cinema the camera chooses for the viewer what to look at, in theater it's the viewer who chooses. In a text like Hospitality Suite, where tension passes through glances and silences, in our view watching two film actors work without close-ups is one of the strongest reasons to go to the Vascello.

A curiosity about Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello, December 10 to 20, 2026

The best-known curiosity concerns cinema. From the play Hospitality Suite came in 1999 the film The Big Kahuna, directed by John Swanbeck, with Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and Peter Facinelli: three salesmen in a suite, the same setup as the stage text. The screenplay was written by Roger Rueff himself, who thus told the same story twice, for the stage and for the screen. Whoever has seen the film will find the situation again, but the theater gives the text back its original measure: one room, three men, no way out.

The second curiosity concerns the cast. Sergio Romano arrives at the Vascello a few months after winning the 2026 David di Donatello for best leading actor for Le città di pianura: the theater recalls it on the poster next to his name. Seeing him in a research venue like the Vascello, a few yards from the audience, after Italian cinema's prize, is a rare opportunity.

The third concerns the director. Francesco Scianna, lead of Baarìa, directs and acts here: a double role that brings him back to the theater, where he had begun as a boy in Palermo.

The Teatro Vascello, research hall of Monteverde

The Teatro Vascello was inaugurated on May 4, 1989 by Giancarlo Nanni and Manuela Kustermann with their company, La Fabbrica dell'Attore, with Qui non ci torno più by Tadeusz Kantor and the Cricot Theatre of Warsaw.

The roots

The story begins in the 1970s with the group Space Re(v)action and the first permanent venue at the Teatro La Fede, on via Portuense. Around Nanni and Kustermann a theater was born that favored image over word, known as the Roman school, through the Teatro La Fede passed Steve Lacy, John Cage and the Living Theatre.

From 1989 to today

After Kantor came Raul Ruiz, the Centro di Pontedera, Teatri Uniti, Moni Ovadia, Carlo Cecchi, the Raffaello Sanzio, Pippo Delbono. From 1998 the Ministry recognized La Fabbrica dell'Attore as a Teatro Stabile d'Innovazione, in 2004 the Sala Studio opened. Since January 2010, after Nanni's death, Manuela Kustermann has been the sole artistic director.

A theater that produces

Hospitality Suite is also an in-house production: La Fabbrica dell'Attore, the Vascello's company, is among the co-producers. The Vascello doesn't limit itself to hosting, but takes part in the birth of the shows it stages.

Something nobody tells you about Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello, December 10 to 20, 2026

What the poster doesn't say is that Hospitality Suite is a text of words. There are no spectacular plot twists or changes of setting: everything happens in one room, through the tight dialogue the presentation puts at the center. It's the kind of theater where every pause counts, every glance between the actors. Those who love acting find their evening here, those looking for stage effects should know it.

The second thing concerns the length: one hour and a quarter in one act, without intermission. It's a short length, which lets you see the show even on a weeknight without getting home late, and which concentrates the tension without dispersion.

The third concerns the weekend times: Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 5:00 p.m. They are the right times for those coming from outside Rome or for those who want to have dinner after the show in Trastevere, a few minutes from Monteverde.

My advice for seeing Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello, December 10 to 20, 2026

The first piece of advice is to choose a weekend performance, Saturday at 7:00 p.m. or Sunday at 5:00 p.m., and to buy the ticket ahead. A cast with a David di Donatello just won and the lead of Baarìa draws an audience beyond the subscribers.

The second concerns preparation. Those who haven't seen The Big Kahuna can arrive knowing nothing: the text stands on its own. Those who have will find the comparison between the film version, with Spacey and DeVito, and Scianna's stage one interesting.

The third concerns the seat: in a dialogue text, seeing the faces matters. In our view the front rows and the center of the stalls are worth the choice. The fourth: bus 75 stops in front of the theater, but in the evening times can stretch. It's best to leave with a margin.

Getting to the Teatro Vascello

The Teatro Vascello is at via Giacinto Carini 78, in Monteverde Vecchio, above Trastevere and near the Gianicolo.

By bus

Bus 75 stops right in front of the theater and is taken from Termini, the Colosseum or Piramide. Alternatively there are lines 44, 710, 870 and 871, all indicated by the theater as useful for getting there. Evening and holiday schedules should be checked on the Rome transport company's route planner.

By train

From Ostiense station, with the metropolitan train, you get off at Quattro Venti station, on viale dei Quattro Venti, a stone's throw from the theater.

By car and parking

The theater indicates street parking along via delle Mura Gianicolensi, about a hundred meters away. There are then paid garages at via Giacinto Carini 43, at via Maurizio Quadrio 22, affiliated with the theater with a discount on showing the ticket, and at via Raffaello Giovagnoli 20.

On foot from Trastevere

From Trastevere you climb to Monteverde on foot, along the streets that lead toward the Gianicolo. It's an uphill walk, to do with comfortable shoes and a good margin of time.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely cited

It's well known that Giuseppe Tornatore's Baarìa was chosen to represent Italy at the 2010 Oscars and was nominated for the Golden Globes. Less cited is that its male lead, Francesco Scianna, had begun in theater as a boy, with a recital of Quasimodo poems in 1997, and had graduated from the Accademia nazionale d'arte drammatica. Directing Hospitality Suite is a return to his origins.

A second known and rarely cited fact concerns Sergio Romano. The public knows him from television, from Squadra antimafia to Romulus, less remembered is that in 2002 he had won the Premio Hystrio for acting, a theater award, and that he collaborates with the company Carrozzeria Orfeo. The 2026 David came after more than 20 years on stage.

The third concerns the text: Hospitality Suite is known in Italy mainly through the film The Big Kahuna, but it was born as a stage play, and the film's screenplay is by Rueff himself.

The right photo to take at Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello, December 10 to 20, 2026

The right photo is taken at the final applause: the four actors on stage in the suite, with Angelo Linzalata's lights still on. During the show the advice is not to shoot: in a dialogue text every distraction weighs, on the actors and on the audience.

The second photo is taken before going in, in front of the Teatro Vascello's facade on via Giacinto Carini, with the show's poster. For those coming from out of town it's the memento of a hall that made the history of Roman theatrical research.

The third is taken afterward, from the Janiculum Hill, a few minutes from the theater: after the Sunday 5:00 p.m. performance the terrace over the lit-up city is the perfect end to a December afternoon.

Some important events that happened here in history

The history of the Teatro Vascello is short if measured in years, dense if measured in events. On May 4, 1989 the hall opens with Qui non ci torno più by Tadeusz Kantor and the Cricot Theatre of Warsaw: a statement of intent, because Kantor was then one of the most radical names of the European scene. In the early 1990s Raul Ruiz, the Centro di Pontedera, American and French contemporary dance and Italian research groups pass through.

In May 1996 the series Extraordinario presents 16 young experimental companies from all over Italy. In 1998 the Ministry recognizes La Fabbrica dell'Attore as a Teatro Stabile d'Innovazione, and in the same year the Vascello co-produces a show with the Berliner Ensemble. In 2003 the Premio Valentino Zeichen is born, in 2004 the Sala Studio opens.

In January 2010 Giancarlo Nanni dies and the direction passes entirely to Manuela Kustermann. For over 20 years the Fondazione Romaeuropa has presented a part of its festival at the Vascello. In December 2026 the theater co-produces and hosts Hospitality Suite, with an actor just awarded the David di Donatello.

Who has come through Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello, December 10 to 20, 2026

Through the Vascello's stage have passed Tadeusz Kantor and the Cricot Theatre, Raul Ruiz, the Centro di Pontedera, Teatri Uniti, Moni Ovadia, Carlo Cecchi, Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, the Raffaello Sanzio, the Teatro Valdoca, Pippo Delbono. Even earlier, at the Teatro La Fede, Nanni and Kustermann's company had hosted Steve Lacy, John Cage and the Living Theatre.

In the 2026 and 2027 season the program has brought to Monteverde Tragudia by Alessandro Serra, Lemnos by Giorgina Pi, L'orologio americano directed by Elio De Capitani and No Yogurt for the Dead by Tiago Rodrigues.

From December 10 to 20 pass through via Giacinto Carini Francesco Scianna, lead of Baarìa, Sergio Romano, 2026 David di Donatello, Lorenzo Crovo and Fabrizio Romano, with the words of Roger Rueff, the same author from whom Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito took their characters in 1999.

Monteverde Vecchio around the Teatro Vascello

Monteverde Vecchio is the high, residential part of Monteverde, above Trastevere, between the Gianicolo and the great historic villas.

The Gianicolo

From the theater the Janiculum Hill is close: the walk on the hill, with the panorama over all of Rome, is the best way to prepare for the evening.

Villa Sciarra and Villa Pamphilj

A few minutes away are Villa Sciarra, small and intimate, and Villa Doria Pamphilj, the large park west of the neighborhood. It's worth checking the gates' closing times.

The Fontanone and San Pancrazio

Toward the Gianicolo you reach the Acqua Paola Fountain, the Fontanone, and farther on the Basilica of San Pancrazio: two stops easy to fit into a walk before the theater.

Trastevere

Below Monteverde opens Trastevere, with the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere and the Museo di Roma in Trastevere. It's the area to go down to after the show for dinner, especially after the Saturday and Sunday performances.

Where to eat before or after the show

The Teatro Vascello has an in-house bistro, useful for a coffee or a snack before the show. For dinner, there are two options: stay in Monteverde or go down to Trastevere.

In Monteverde

The neighborhood has trattorias and pizzerias frequented mostly by residents, with fairer prices than Trastevere's. They are the right choice after the 9:00 p.m. performances, when you come out around 10:15.

In Trastevere

After Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 5:00 p.m. it's best to go down to Trastevere, where the offer of trattorias and osterias is vast and open late. On December weekends the district fills up: better to book.

Accessibility and practical information

The Teatro Vascello publishes on its website a section devoted to accessibility, to consult before purchase to learn about access, reserved seats and services.

With teens

Hospitality Suite is a text for adults in its themes, work, morality, life choices. High-schoolers interested in spoken-word theater can follow it without difficulty, also thanks to the 75-minute length.

Arriving on time

With a one-act show without intermission, entering late disturbs everyone. Consider that the bus in the evening can take a long time and leave with a margin.

How to organize the evening

The Hospitality Suite evening is organized around the performance time, which changes between weekdays and the weekend.

On weekdays

Tuesday to Friday the show starts at 9:00 p.m. It's best to dine early in Monteverde or grab a snack at the theater's bistro, and arrive around 8:40 p.m. On the way out, around 10:15 p.m., bus 75 takes you back toward the center.

On Saturday

With the 7:00 p.m. start and exit around 8:15, Saturday is the ideal evening to combine theater and dinner in Trastevere, a few minutes downhill from Monteverde.

On Sunday

The 5:00 p.m. performance lets you spend the morning at Villa Pamphilj or the Gianicolo and leave the theater shortly after 6:15, with the whole evening ahead.

December in Rome: spoken theater at the holidays

Hospitality Suite arrives at the Vascello in the week following the Immaculate Conception and stays until December 20, a few days before Christmas. In the same period, in nearby Trastevere, the Teatro Belli hosts Barbara Giordano's Luci rotte from December 8 to 11, and the Teatro Trastevere Miranda Angeli's Maledetto Stanislavskij, from the 8th to the 13th. Those who love spoken-word theater can put together a small route between Monteverde and Trastevere. For the other offerings of the period, from markets to nativity scenes, there is the overview of Christmas in Rome.

Frequently asked questions about Hospitality Suite in Rome

When does Hospitality Suite play at the Teatro Vascello?

Hospitality Suite plays at the Teatro Vascello in Rome from December 10 to 20, 2026: Tuesday to Friday at 9:00 p.m., Saturday at 7:00 p.m., Sunday at 5:00 p.m. The opening is Thursday, December 10 at 9:00 p.m.

Who is in Hospitality Suite?

In Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello the actors are Francesco Scianna, who also directs, Sergio Romano, 2026 David di Donatello for best leading actor, Lorenzo Crovo and Fabrizio Romano.

How long is Hospitality Suite?

Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello runs one hour and a quarter, in one act without intermission, according to the theater's page. With the 9:00 p.m. performance you come out around 10:15.

Is Hospitality Suite the play behind The Big Kahuna?

Yes, Hospitality Suite is the Roger Rueff play from which the film The Big Kahuna is drawn, directed in 1999 by John Swanbeck with Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and Peter Facinelli. The film's screenplay is by Rueff himself.

What is Hospitality Suite about?

Hospitality Suite tells of three salesmen of a large industrial company who, in a hotel suite during a convention, wait for a client decisive for the company. The dialogue reveals their vulnerabilities, ambitions and illusions.

How do you get to the Teatro Vascello?

The Teatro Vascello is at via Giacinto Carini 78, in Monteverde. Bus 75 stops in front of the theater, lines 44, 710, 870 and 871 and the train to Quattro Venti station are also useful. For the car the theater indicates street parking on via delle Mura Gianicolensi and some garages.

How much do Hospitality Suite tickets cost?

The prices for Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello are not given on the show's page and are published by the theater on its own website. Tickets are bought online from the purchase button on the official page or at the theater's box office.

Final advice on Hospitality Suite at the Teatro Vascello

The advice is to choose Saturday at 7:00 p.m. or Sunday at 5:00 p.m., take a seat in the center of the stalls to see the faces up close, and complete the evening with a walk on the Gianicolo or dinner in Trastevere. Hospitality Suite brings to the Vascello a text made famous by The Big Kahuna, entrusted to a lead of Italian cinema like Francesco Scianna and to an actor just awarded the David like Sergio Romano. In our view it is one of the soundest spoken-theater evenings of December in Rome: 75 minutes of dialogue in which work becomes the pretext for talking about who we are.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

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