Madri by Diego Pleuteri at Teatro India, March 17 to 21, 2027

Madri by Diego Pleuteri, directed by Alice Sinigaglia with Valentina Picello and Vito Vicino, is on at Teatro India, at Lungotevere Vittorio Gassman 1 in Rome, from Wednesday, March 17 to Sunday, March 21, 2027. There are five performances, one a day from Wednesday to Sunday, and the show runs 75 minutes. Teatro India, the second venue of Teatro di Roma, is opposite Gazometro, at the corner with Via Luigi Pierantoni. The closest metro is Garbatella, on Line B, about a kilometer beyond Ponte dell'Industria. Roma Trastevere station, with the regional lines FL1, FL3 and FL5, is about 700 meters away. Buses 170, 766, 775, 780 and 781 stop in Piazza della Radio. Start times and prices are published on the official website of Teatro di Roma, where you buy tickets, along with the foundation's box offices and the authorized presale circuit indicated on the show page. The production is by La Corte Ospitale, in co-production with SCARTI Centro di Produzione Teatrale d'Innovazione.

Language: a performance based on dance, music or visual acts; no English version is announced, any spoken parts are in Italian.

Madri tells of a rainy afternoon, a house full of boxes, a mother looking for the last word of a forgotten quotation and a son who, almost without noticing, lets himself be dragged into the search. The text, written in 2019, received a mention at the InediTO prize in 2020 and was selected by Eurodram in 2022. What follows covers the dates, the plot, the author and the director, the cast, Teatro India and advice for organizing the evening.

Madri at Teatro India: dates, running time and essential facts

Madri is on at Teatro India for five consecutive evenings, from Wednesday, March 17 to Sunday, March 21, 2027, with a running time of 75 minutes, in the 2026/2027 season of Teatro di Roma.

The calendar

The performances are Wednesday, March 17, Thursday, March 18, Friday, March 19, Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21. The Teatro di Roma page doesn't give the time of each performance: check it on the official website before buying, because the Sunday performance is usually in the afternoon.

The billing

Text by Diego Pleuteri, direction by Alice Sinigaglia, on stage Valentina Picello and Vito Vicino. Sound design is by Federica Furlani, set design by Alessandro Ratti, lighting by Luca Scotton. The stage photographs are by Francesco Capitani.

Production and support

Produced by La Corte Ospitale, co-produced by SCARTI Centro di Produzione Teatrale d'Innovazione of La Spezia. The show has the contribution of the Emilia-Romagna Region and the support of the Ministry of Culture and of SIAE under the Per Chi Crea program.

A note for sensitive spectators

In the show's page published by Teatro Stabile di Torino, where Madri was staged in February 2025, the use of strobe lights was noted. Anyone sensitive to this type of effect should ask the Teatro di Roma box office for confirmation.

What Madri is about: a forgotten word

In Madri a young man goes back to visit his mother on a rainy afternoon and finds the house invaded by boxes full of objects and memories: the woman is looking for an old newspaper article and for the last word of a quotation she can no longer remember.

The only intimate thing left is

The incomplete quotation drives everything: “The only intimate thing left is…”. As if the woman's life had remained suspended in that absence, the search for the word becomes an obsession, and the son is drawn into something that is much more than an exercise in memory.

Between reality and imagination

Among photographs, books, fragments of the past and unsettling presences, mother and son enter a space in which reality and imagination blur. The Teatro di Roma presentation speaks of a shared journey into the unconscious, to discover what time has hidden without erasing it.

Two characters, a river of words

According to the La Corte Ospitale presentation, the two characters have holes in their heads and their thoughts pour out without pause, in a river of obsessions that become words. It's a theater of tight dialogue, built on rhythm more than on action.

A plural title

The title is plural, even though there is only one mother on stage. It's one of the keys to the text: the mother in Madri is one, but the search she carries out touches something shared, that unconscious which Teatro Stabile di Torino, presenting the show, called almost collective.

The text by Diego Pleuteri: from the InediTO prize to Eurodram

Madri was written by Diego Pleuteri in 2019, received the special mention at the InediTO Colline di Torino prize in 2020 and in 2022 entered the selection of the Italian committee of Eurodram, the European network dedicated to the translation and circulation of contemporary playwriting.

Prizes and selections

The official sources describe the Eurodram recognition slightly differently: Teatro di Roma and Teatro Stabile di Torino speak of a winning text of Eurodram 2022, while La Corte Ospitale writes both of a win and of entry into the selection of the Italian committee. In any case it is a European recognition that came to an author of just over 20.

The debut in Turin

The show was staged from February 18 to 23, 2025 at Teatro Gobetti in Turin, in the Sala Pasolini, in the program of Teatro Stabile di Torino. Teatro di Roma now presents it at Teatro India in the 2026/2027 season.

A work on sound

La Corte Ospitale explains that Alice Sinigaglia's direction focuses on the actors' work in relation to sound, which is meant to play a key role in the staging. The presence of a sound designer, Federica Furlani, among the main credits confirms it.

Diego Pleuteri, the author of Madri

Diego Pleuteri was born in Melzo, near Milan, in 1998 and is an actor and playwright: he trained as an author at the Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi and as an actor at the Scuola del Teatro Stabile di Torino.

Training in Milan

Very young, he frequents the Milan theater scene, growing up with groups such as Campo Teatrale, ATIR and Proxima Res. From 2019 to 2021 he attends the Paolo Grassi course for theater authors. Along the way he meets, among others, Daria Deflorian, Martin Crimp and Rafael Spregelburd.

Turin and Leonardo Lidi

In 2024 he graduates as an actor from the Scuola per Attori of Teatro Stabile di Torino, directed by Valerio Binasco and Leonardo Lidi. A collaboration with Lidi begins: he is assistant dramaturg on Misantropo and writes for him, in 2023, Come nei giorni migliori, his debut as a playwright in a Teatro Stabile di Torino production.

A young author

Madri is a text written by an author just over 20, and it was nominated for the 2025 Ubu Awards in the category dedicated to new Italian text. The Sipario review, published at the Turin debut, calls Pleuteri one of the most interesting signatures of new playwriting. The portal Dramma.it speaks of a precocious and solid talent.

Alice Sinigaglia, the director of Madri

Alice Sinigaglia was born in La Spezia in 1996 and graduated in directing from the Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi in Milan in 2022.

The Scarti of La Spezia

Since 2017 she has worked with the Scarti of La Spezia, the production center that co-produces Madri. She wrote and directed Domino, which received a special mention at the Premio Scenario Infanzia 2018, and Il Canto del Bidone, finalist at the Premio Scenario 2021.

Other work

In 2023 she debuts with her brother Davide in Concerto fetido su quattro zampe. Since 2021 she has been assistant director to Serena Sinigaglia, with whom she handles the graduation showcase of the Paolo Grassi actors.

The partnership with Pleuteri

La Corte Ospitale speaks of an artistic partnership between Pleuteri and Sinigaglia that is renewed with Madri: two authors born two years apart, trained at the same Milan school, who work together on the text and on the stage.

Valentina Picello and Vito Vicino, mother and son

In Madri the mother is Valentina Picello and the son Vito Vicino. For this show Valentina Picello won the 2025 Ubu Award as best actress, according to La Corte Ospitale.

An actress's performance

The Sipario review of the Turin debut speaks of an intense performance by the pair, and the Ubu, the best-known prize of Italian theater, confirmed the judgment on the lead. In the director's notes the mother has red hair, the mark of a vitality left without an outlet. The mother's role is the emotional center of the text: a woman who looks for a word and, looking for it, turns her own life out of the boxes.

The son

The son comes for a visit and finds himself inside an adventure of memory. He is the character in whom the spectator most easily recognizes themselves: who has never gone back to their parents' house to find it changed, full of things to sort out and memories you have to decide to keep or throw away?

Teatro India, the venue of Madri

Teatro India, opened in 1999 in the sheds of the former Mira Lanza on the right bank of the Tiber, is the hall that Teatro di Roma dedicates above all to the contemporary stage, alongside Teatro Argentina and Teatro di Villa Torlonia.

The old Mira

The first brick buildings of the Mira factory, designed by the engineer Giulio Filippucci, date from the early 1900s. In 1913 the City took over the plant, which during the First World War produced glycerin and after the war converted to soap, also using the scraps from the nearby Mattatoio di Testaccio. The merger with Unione Stearinerie Lanza gave it the name Mira Lanza.

The years of silence

The factory closed in 1952 and for decades the sheds were the warehouse of the Rancati firm, which supplied props to theaters and film sets. In 1999 the City bought part of it and assigned it to the theater.

Why India

The name was given by Mario Martone, then director of Teatro di Roma: the name of a faraway country, like Argentina, to suggest travel.

The halls

Three naves, dark brick, pitched roofs, wood and iron beams, red velvet seats: modular halls, suited to circular arrangements or ones on several levels. For a text set in a house full of boxes, a former warehouse is a place that resonates.

How to get to Teatro India for Madri

To reach Teatro India, at Lungotevere Vittorio Gassman 1 opposite Gazometro, the simplest combination from the center is Metro Line B to Garbatella and then a quarter of an hour on foot.

Metro Line B

From Garbatella station you head toward Via Ostiense and cross the Tiber on Ponte dell'Industria, the 19th-century iron structure. On the other side of the river the theater is a few steps away, on the embankment road that was once called Lungotevere dei Papareschi.

Regional train

Roma Trastevere station, about 700 meters away, is served by lines FL1, FL3 and FL5: convenient for people arriving from Fiumicino or from areas served by the railway.

Bus and tram

Lines 170, 766, 775, 780 and 781 stop in Piazza della Radio. Tram 8 reaches Trastevere station. Evening frequencies should be checked on the route planner of the Roman transit company.

Car

The area is outside the ZTL and parking, between Viale Marconi and the riverside road, is generally less complicated than in the central neighborhoods. On Saturday evening it's still best to leave with time to spare.

A curiosity about Madri by Diego Pleuteri at Teatro India, March 17 to 21, 2027

The most interesting curiosity about Madri concerns the place where it is staged. The show takes place entirely inside a house invaded by boxes full of objects, photographs, books and fragments of the past: a small warehouse of memory. Teatro India, for half a century, was literally a warehouse. After the Mira Lanza factory closed, in 1952, its sheds became the depot of the Rancati firm, specialized in theater and film props: furniture, stage objects and furnishings meant for the theaters and sets of Italian cinema were kept here. The boxes that the mother in Madri opens and turns out to look for a word therefore have, within these walls, concrete ancestors. Then there is a second coincidence. The text revolves around an incomplete quotation, “The only intimate thing left is…”, and the effort of remembering. The very name of the theater comes from a gesture of memory and imagination: Mario Martone chose it thinking of Argentina, the foundation's historic venue, and of the idea of a faraway country to reach. Finally, a curiosity about age: Diego Pleuteri wrote Madri in 2019, just over 20, and it is a text about time passing, about memory crumbling and about a mother and son relationship seen with a gaze that, for the author's age, is striking for its maturity. In our view it is exactly this distance between the age of the writer and the theme that makes the text interesting.

Something nobody tells you about Madri by Diego Pleuteri at Teatro India, March 17 to 21, 2027

What the posters don't say is that Madri is not an absolute novelty. Teatro di Roma presents it as a national premiere, but the show directed by Alice Sinigaglia with the same performers, Valentina Picello and Vito Vicino, was already staged at Teatro Gobetti in Turin, in the Sala Pasolini, from February 18 to 23, 2025, and the reviews of that debut were published by specialized outlets such as Sipario and Dramma.it. For the Roman spectator this is an advantage: a show that is already well run in arrives at Teatro India, with its own history of performances. The second thing that goes unsaid is the running time. 75 minutes without an intermission: a compact evening, suited also to anyone who works the next day and doesn't want to get home late. The third detail concerns sound. La Corte Ospitale explains that the direction works on the actors in relation to sound, with a key role entrusted to the sound designer Federica Furlani: the advice is to choose a central seat, not too far to the side, to hear the voices and the sound environment well. Finally, a practical warning: in the Teatro Stabile di Torino page the use of strobe lights was noted. Anyone with photosensitivity should know this in advance, and can ask the Teatro di Roma box office for confirmation.

The advice I give you for seeing Madri by Diego Pleuteri at Teatro India, March 17 to 21, 2027

The advice is to go and see Madri with your own mother, or with a son or daughter. It may sound like a sentimental proposal, but it's practical: Pleuteri's text speaks of the effort of remembering, of houses that fill up with boxes, of words lost over the years, and seeing it together with someone who shares that family story turns the show into a conversation that continues after you leave. 75 minutes leave plenty of time for dinner in Testaccio or Ostiense. The second piece of advice concerns the date. Madri is on from Wednesday, March 17 to Sunday, March 21, right after the eight evenings of Flusso with Lino Guanciale and Gianmarco Saurino, in the same venue: anyone who loves contemporary playwriting can see both in the same week, and discover that the two texts, both coming out of theater writing prizes, speak of memory and of relationships between different ages of life. The third piece of advice is to arrive early and take a short walk along the river: Gazometro, Ponte dell'Industria, the brick sheds of the old factory prepare you well for a show about the dust of time. Finally, for those who follow new playwriting, it's worth looking in bookstores or on the prize websites for Pleuteri's texts: reading Madri after seeing it helps you catch how much of its music is already written on the page.

Around Teatro India: between Ostiense and Testaccio

Teatro India stands at the meeting point of Testaccio, Ostiense and Marconi, on a stretch of the Tiber marked by the industrial architecture of the 1900s.

Gazometro

On the other bank rises Gazometro, symbol of Ostiense, in the area that hosted Maker Faire Rome 2026. The neighborhood is also known for its street art and for Centrale Montemartini, the old power plant that displays ancient sculptures among the machinery.

Testaccio and the Pyramid

To the north you reach Testaccio, with Ex Mattatoio, Monte dei Cocci and the Pyramid of Cestius. Mattatoio is tied to the history of the theater: Mira also made soap with the scraps of the slaughterhouse.

The Basilica of St. Paul

To the south, one metro stop from Garbatella, is the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, a visit that combines well with an evening performance.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely cited

It's well known that Italian theater struggles to make room for young authors: it's a complaint that returns in every debate on contemporary playwriting, and the Il Sole 24 Ore review dedicated to Madri, cited by La Corte Ospitale, starts precisely from this recurring litany. It's remembered less often that in Italy there is a network of prizes and venues that work in exactly that direction, and Madri is an almost textbook example of it. The text was written in 2019 by an author who was attending the Paolo Grassi playwriting course. In 2020 it received a mention at the InediTO Colline di Torino prize, dedicated to unpublished texts. In 2022 it was selected by Eurodram, the European network that flags contemporary texts to translate and circulate. Then came an Emilian production center, La Corte Ospitale, which declares that it supports and grows new talent, with a Ligurian co-producer, the Scarti of La Spezia, where the director has worked since 2017. The debut took place in a national theater, in Turin, and now the show arrives at Teatro di Roma. The path from the page to the stage, which many consider impossible for a young author, is documented here step by step. Flusso too, on in the same hall the previous week, comes from a playwriting prize, the Premio Riccione: two cases, in the same venue, a few days apart.

The right photo to take at Madri by Diego Pleuteri at Teatro India, March 17 to 21, 2027

In the hall the phone is turned off: Madri is a show built on sound and voices, and every lit screen breaks the work of the direction. The photo is taken before or after, and Teatro India offers framings that speak well with the theme of the show. The first is the bricks: the dark walls of the old factory, with the big windows and exposed beams, tell of a past of work and then of storage, when the Rancati firm's stage props were piled up here. A close-up of a corner of the wall, in the light of the streetlamps, has the flavor of a photograph found in a box. The second is Gazometro, which from the theater's outdoor space is seen across the Tiber: the metal silhouette lit up in the evening is the most recognizable image of the neighborhood. The third is taken from Ponte dell'Industria, for those arriving from the metro: the river, the iron trusses, the bank with the sheds. In mid-March, at the time of the evening show, it is already dark, and the lights reflected in the water are the best part of the photo. For those going to the theater with their mother or with a son or daughter, the right photo is simply a photo together, in front of the entrance: the memory of an evening that, after this show, will have an extra value.

Some important events that happened here in history

On the right bank of the Tiber, at the beginning of the 1900s, the Mira factory is born: the first brick buildings are by the engineer Giulio Filippucci. In 1913 the plant passes to the City of Rome and, in the years of the First World War, produces glycerin. After the conflict production shifts to soap, also thanks to the proximity of the Mattatoio di Testaccio, and the company grows. The years of competition with Unione Stearinerie Lanza arrive, ending in an alliance: Mira Lanza is born, ready to face the big multinationals. With the Second World War the decline begins, due to the shortage of labor and the spread of synthetic detergents. In 1952 the plant closes. The sheds become the warehouse of the Rancati firm, theater and film props, and for decades they keep the stage objects of theaters and sets. In 1999 the City buys part of the area and, at the wish of Mario Martone, then director of Teatro di Roma, Teatro India is born, the last theater opened in Rome in the 1900s. In the following years the theater becomes the foundation's laboratory for the contemporary stage, with seasons, workshops, Italian and foreign companies and summer series such as India Città Aperta. In March 2027 Madri arrives, the text written by an author just over 20 about a mother and her boxes.

Who has passed through Madri by Diego Pleuteri at Teatro India, March 17 to 21, 2027

Along Lungotevere dei Papareschi, today named after Vittorio Gassman, first of all workers have passed: the engineer Giulio Filippucci, who designed the first buildings, the male and female workers of Mira and then of Mira Lanza, the prop makers of the Rancati firm who for decades supplied furniture and stage objects to theaters and sets. Then the theater passed. Mario Martone, director and head of Teatro di Roma, wanted the new venue and gave it its name. Since 1999 Teatro India has hosted Italian and international companies, workshops, summer series. In the current season, among others, Francesca Astrei with Gli elefanti nella stanza, and a few days before Madri Lino Guanciale and Gianmarco Saurino with Flusso. From March 17 to 21, 2027 Diego Pleuteri and Alice Sinigaglia pass through, both trained at Paolo Grassi, with Valentina Picello and Vito Vicino, the sound designer Federica Furlani, the set designer Alessandro Ratti and the light designer Luca Scotton. With them, ideally, come the masters Pleuteri met along his path, from Daria Deflorian to Martin Crimp and Rafael Spregelburd, and Leonardo Lidi, for whom he wrote his first produced text, and Serena Sinigaglia, with whom Alice worked as assistant director.

Where to eat before or after Madri

With a 75-minute show there's plenty of time for dinner after the performance, in Ostiense beyond the bridge or in Testaccio.

Beyond the bridge

Via Ostiense and the streets between Gazometro and Garbatella have pizzerias, restaurants and places frequented by university students and by people who work in the area: the liveliest side in the evening.

The cooking of Testaccio

A quarter of an hour on foot away, Testaccio keeps the offal cooking, the quinto quarto, born around the Mattatoio. Between Piazza Testaccio and Via Marmorata there are traditional trattorias: on Friday and Saturday it's best to book.

On the theater's side

Toward Viale Marconi and Trastevere station you find neighborhood trattorias and pizzerias, frequented above all by residents.

Accessibility, age and practical information

For the accessibility of Teatro India the reference is the dedicated section of the Teatro di Roma website. For reserved seats and special needs it's best to contact the foundation's box office before buying.

Who it's for

Madri is a show for adults and for high school students interested in contemporary theater. The themes, memory, the mother and son relationship, the unconscious, are universal. The language is that of a tight, visionary dialogue.

Strobe lights

The notice about strobe lights, published by Teatro Stabile di Torino for the 2025 performances, concerns people who suffer from photosensitive epilepsy or similar disorders: better to ask for confirmation beforehand.

Punctuality

A short, compact show doesn't forgive lateness, and in the Teatro di Roma halls entry after the performance has started may not be allowed.

Frequently asked questions about Madri at Teatro India

When is Madri by Diego Pleuteri on in Rome?

Madri by Diego Pleuteri is on at Teatro India in Rome from Wednesday, March 17 to Sunday, March 21, 2027, with one performance a day. The start times are not given on the show page and should be checked on the official Teatro di Roma website before buying.

How long is Madri?

Madri at Teatro India runs 75 minutes, according to the Teatro di Roma page. It's a compact show, without an intermission, that leaves time for dinner in Ostiense or Testaccio after the performance.

Who is in Madri?

The cast of Madri is Valentina Picello, in the role of the mother, awarded the 2025 Ubu as best actress, and Vito Vicino, in the role of the son. The direction is by Alice Sinigaglia, the text by Diego Pleuteri, the sound design by Federica Furlani, the set design by Alessandro Ratti and the lighting by Luca Scotton.

What is Madri about?

Madri tells of a rainy afternoon in which a son goes to visit his mother and finds the house full of boxes: she is looking for an old newspaper article and for the last word of a quotation, “The only intimate thing left is…”, and the search becomes a shared journey into memory.

Has Madri won any prizes?

The text of Madri received the special mention at the InediTO Colline di Torino prize in 2020 and was recognized in 2022 by Eurodram, the European network for contemporary playwriting: Teatro di Roma lists it as a winning text of Eurodram 2022.

Where is Teatro India?

Teatro India is at Lungotevere Vittorio Gassman 1, opposite Gazometro, between Testaccio and Ostiense. You get there by Metro Line B to Garbatella and a quarter of an hour on foot, or from Roma Trastevere station, about 700 meters away.

Where do you buy tickets for Madri?

Tickets for Madri at Teatro India are bought on the official Teatro di Roma website, at the foundation's box offices and on the authorized presale circuit indicated on the show page, where the prices are also published.

The final advice on Madri

In our view Madri is one of the best chances of the Roman spring to get to know new Italian playwriting: a text written by an author just over 20, awarded and selected in Italy and in Europe, staged by a director of the same generation with two performers whom critics have singled out for intensity. 75 minutes, a house full of boxes, a word to find again. The advice is to go in the company of someone with whom you share a family memory, and to treat yourself afterward to a slow dinner in Testaccio to finish the sentence.

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

Planning a trip to Rome? The English-language guides for visiting the city are on ItalyPlanner.com.