Metadietro by Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella at Teatro Vascello, January 5-17, 2027

Metadietro by Rezza and Mastrella, the latest show by Flavia Mastrella and Antonio Rezza, plays at Teatro Vascello in Rome from January 5 to 17, 2027, at Via Giacinto Carini 78, in Monteverde Vecchio. The times are the theater's usual ones: Tuesday to Friday at 21:00, Saturday at 19:00, Sunday at 17:00. Onstage are Antonio Rezza and Daniele Cavaioli, inside the habitat created by Flavia Mastrella, with the offstage voices of Noemi Pirastru and Mauro Ranucci. The show lasts one hour and 35 minutes. You reach the Vascello by bus 75, which leaves from Termini, passes the Colosseum and Piramide and stops in front of the entrance, or by lines 44, 710, 870 and 871. By train, from Ostiense you get off at Quattro Venti station, a few steps away. Tickets are bought from the official website of Teatro Vascello, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the theater's box office. Prices are published on the Vascello's official channels.

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

Metadietro dates from 2025. It follows Amistade and Hybris and tells, in the duo's skewed language, of an electric-blue admiral trying to save his ship. Below you will find the calendar, what you see onstage, the authors' notes, the career of RezzaMastrella, Teatro Vascello, how to get there in January and how to organize the evening.

Metadietro at Teatro Vascello: dates, times and running time

Metadietro plays at Teatro Vascello from January 5 to 17, 2027, for two weeks, Tuesday to Sunday. It is the second consecutive engagement with Rezza and Mastrella after 7-14-21-28, on the bill during the holidays.

The calendar

First week: Tuesday the 5th, Wednesday the 6th, Thursday the 7th and Friday, January 8 at 21:00, Saturday the 9th at 19:00, Sunday the 10th at 17:00. Second week: Tuesday the 12th, Wednesday the 13th, Thursday the 14th and Friday the 15th at 21:00, Saturday the 16th at 19:00, Sunday the 17th at 17:00, the last performance. January 6, the Epiphany holiday, falls on a Wednesday and is included in the schedule.

The running time

The show lasts one hour and 35 minutes. With a 21:00 start, on weeknights you come out around 22:40, a time compatible with the return by bus or train, as long as you check the last runs.

The production

Metadietro is produced by La Fabbrica dell'Attore, Teatro Vascello and Rezza Mastrella. Press office Artinconnessione, organization and communication This is Acqua, general organization Stefania Saltarelli.

Two shows in a row

From December 22 to January 3 the same theater presents 7-14-21-28, a 2009 title. Those who see both can measure 16 years of the duo's work: Rezza's body is the same, while Mastrella's habitats and the themes have changed.

What Metadietro is about: an admiral and his crew

In Metadietro, according to the note by Antonio Rezza published by the Vascello, an electric-blue admiral tries to bring his ship to safety, backed by a throng that stuns him with market obsessions.

The mutiny

Rezza's note opens with a sentence that is already a statement of poetics: mutiny is always desirable in a healthy organism. The show stages the contrast between those who live by their own ideas and those who think only of the safety of those close to them, and resolves it without culprits: there is only, the author writes, a great gap in how to be in the world.

Expatriation from one's own will

At the center is an expatriation that is not the migration of a people but the relentless distancing from one's own will. The note closes with a wordplay typical of Rezza, which turns the happy ending of fairy tales into a formula about wrecks and portents.

Mastrella's gaze

Flavia Mastrella's note shifts attention to space. Returning to the natural and wild dimension is impossible, she writes: we live in a new prehistory, in which human duty is mortified and confused. In the virtual space made matter an ecopentagon creates the void, while invisible characters flank the egocentric building. The declared theme is technological cruelty, and the conclusion is the disappearance of the hero.

The offstage voices

One of the novelties of Metadietro compared with the older shows is the work on recorded sound: offstage voices by Noemi Pirastru and Mauro Ranucci, sound track editing by Barbara Faonio, mix by Stefano G. Falcone. The invisible characters Mastrella speaks of have a voice too.

Who is onstage and who works behind it

In Metadietro the performers are Antonio Rezza and Daniele Cavaioli. The habitat is by Flavia Mastrella, and the text is (never) written by Antonio Rezza.

Daniele Cavaioli

Alongside Rezza is Daniele Cavaioli, who in Metadietro is the admiral's scene partner. In the duo's repertoire the second actor is often a physical presence more than an interlocutor: a body Rezza collides with, talks to and plays with.

The team

Assistant to the creation is Massimo Camilli, a longtime collaborator of the pair. Lights and technical direction are by Alice Mollica, and the stagehand is Eughenij Razzeca. The tailoring is by Atelier Sara Baldazzi and the metalwork by Cisall: a sign that Mastrella's habitat, this time, is a construction that is also metallic.

A habitat of veils and metal

The production photos released by the theater show the space of Metadietro: translucent veils stretched between metal poles, triangular shapes, a red light flooding the backdrop, and at the center two men kneeling face to face, Rezza in blue and his scene partner in green. It is the visual translation of Mastrella's words: a virtual space made matter, a building that surrounds the characters and exposes them. Those seated in the front rows see the details of the fabrics, and those farther back take in the overall geometry.

The photos

The official images of Metadietro are signed by Flavia Mastrella, Annalisa Gonnella and Giulio Mazzi. Photography has been part of the duo's language since 1990, when the exhibition I Visi...goti made concepts and characters run across Rezza's face.

RezzaMastrella: 40 years of theater, cinema and books

Antonio Rezza, born in Novara on March 5, 1965, and Flavia Mastrella, an artist and sculptor, have worked together since 1987 under the name RezzaMastrella. In 2018 they received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement from the Biennale Teatro di Venezia.

Nettuno and Anzio

Rezza grew up in Nettuno, where the family moved in 1967, and for 35 years he worked in the spaces of the former Divina Provvidenza. In February 2019 the municipality's commissioned administration removed him from that place, and since then the duo has worked in Anzio. It is a detail that counts: theirs is a theater born in the provinces, far from the official circuits.

The shows

From the first works, Nuove parabole, Barba e cravatta, I vichinghi elettronici, to Pitecus in 1995, Fotofinish in 2003, Bahamuth in 2006, 7-14-21-28 in 2009, Fratto_X in 2012, Anelante in 2015, Amistade in 2021 and Hybris in 2022: Metadietro is the latest chapter of a repertoire that the duo keeps alive for years.

Cinema

The first feature film, Escoriandoli, was presented at the Venice Film Festival in 1996. Delitto sul Po followed, presented at the Torino Film Festival and at Spoleto, the documentary Il passato è il mio bastone, in competition at Venice in 2008, Samp in 2020 and Il Cristo in gola in 2022. As an actor Rezza appears in Paz! by Renato De Maria, in Musikanten by Franco Battiato and, more recently, in films by Elisabetta Sgarbi and Franco Maresco.

Books

For Bompiani Rezza published four novels between 1998 and 2007. In 2015 Clamori al vento came out from Il Saggiatore, and in 2023 Il fattaccio from La Nave di Teseo.

Awards and honors

The Francesca Alinovi prize in 2007, devoted to the convergence of the arts, the Hystrio Altre Muse prize in 2013, the Ermete Novelli prize in 2017 and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2018. Rezza is also among the winners of the Ubu prize.

A curiosity about Metadietro by Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella at Teatro Vascello, January 5-17, 2027

The first curiosity about Metadietro is in the title. The prefix meta today immediately points to the digital world, to platforms, to virtual space. And indeed Flavia Mastrella's note speaks of a virtual space made matter and of technological cruelty. The rest of the word brings everything back to earth, with that taste for the low and the bodily that runs through the duo's theater. It is a title that makes you smile and at the same time describes the theme exactly. The second curiosity concerns the materials. In the credits appear a tailor's workshop, Atelier Sara Baldazzi, and a metalwork company, Cisall: for a Mastrella habitat this means a built, solid, inhabitable structure, far from the colorful fabrics of the early days, in which Rezza pushed his face through the cuts to create characters. The third curiosity is about the calendar. Metadietro is the latest title in the pair's repertoire according to the list of theater works, dated 2025. The Vascello, which co-produces it, programs it for two full weeks right after the holidays, a slot that theaters usually reserve for their biggest draws. The fourth concerns the written word: on the poster, as always, the text is (never) written by Antonio Rezza, who nonetheless has published six books.

Teatro Vascello, the duo's Roman home

Teatro Vascello, at Via Giacinto Carini 78, opened on May 4, 1989 on the initiative of Giancarlo Nanni and Manuela Kustermann and the company La Fabbrica dell'Attore, which is also a co-producer of Metadietro.

From Via Portuense to Monteverde

The company comes from Teatro La Fede at Via Portuense 78, where in the 1970s the group Space Re(v)action worked on a theater of images: A come Alice, Risveglio di primavera. The move to Monteverde gave that research a permanent hall.

Recognition and the Sala Studio

In 1998 La Fabbrica dell'Attore became a Teatro Stabile d'Innovazione by decision of the Ministry. In 2004 the Sala Studio was added, on the lower level. After Nanni's death, in January 2010, the artistic direction passed to Manuela Kustermann.

A long bond

In December 2010 the Vascello hosted for a month the complete anthology of Rezza and Mastrella's theater. Since then the duo has been a fixture of the program, and recent productions are born in collaboration with the theater. The 2026/2027 season confirms it: first 7-14-21-28 during the holidays, then Metadietro in January.

Something nobody tells you about Metadietro by Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella at Teatro Vascello, January 5-17, 2027

What is not said enough is that Rezza and Mastrella's shows do not have a plot in the ordinary sense, and the official presentations hint at it more than they declare it. The note for Metadietro speaks of an admiral and a ship. Anyone who goes in expecting a sea story with a beginning, middle and end risks being thrown off. The electric-blue admiral is a pretext for a sequence of scenes, verbal clashes and physical inventions, in which the central idea returns like a musical theme. The second thing left unsaid is the role of laughter. Rezza makes people laugh, a lot, and the audience laughs from the first lines. But laughter is the means, not the end. The notes speak of mortified human duty, technological cruelty, the disappearance of the hero: serious themes, tackled in a comic language. Those who stay on the surface come out amused, and those who pay attention come out with a few more questions. The third thing is practical: January is the month when Roman theaters resume after the holidays and audiences return en masse. With two weeks of performances the offer is wide, but Saturday at 19:00 and Sunday at 17:00 tend to fill first. Those with flexibility should choose a weeknight, Tuesday to Thursday.

Tickets for Metadietro

Tickets for Metadietro are bought from the official website of Teatro Vascello, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the theater's box office at Via Giacinto Carini 78.

Buying online

On the Vascello website you buy tickets, subscriptions and cards, which arrive directly on your phone. For holders of a season card, booking for the show goes through the same network.

The cards

The theater offers cards for the 2026/2027 season, to be bought at least 24 hours before first use. The website recommends booking your seat and checking availability. For those who see both 7-14-21-28 and Metadietro they are the most logical formula.

Prices

Prices and any reductions are indicated by the theater on the official channels and on the sales network linked to the show's page.

The advice I give you for visiting Metadietro by Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella at Teatro Vascello, January 5-17, 2027

My advice is to come to Metadietro without preparation and with a clear mind. Reading in advance the two authors' notes published by the Vascello helps, because they give the keywords: mutiny, expatriation from one's own will, new prehistory, technological cruelty, disappearance of the hero. But you shouldn't look for them onstage as in a school assignment: they arrive by suggestion, inside the scenes. Those who saw 7-14-21-28 during the holidays have an advantage, because they already know the duo's language. Those who didn't lose nothing, because each show stands on its own. In our view the best performance is Wednesday, January 6, Epiphany: the city is still in holiday mood, the audience is relaxed, and you can spend the afternoon on the Janiculum or in Trastevere before going up to Monteverde. Alternatively, an evening of the second week is a good choice, when the show has already been running and the hall is warmed up. The ideal seat is central and at medium distance, to see the whole habitat and the metal structure. Finally, it is best to arrive with a quarter of an hour to spare: the Vascello's bistro allows a coffee before going in, and an on-time start is a must.

How to get to Teatro Vascello for Metadietro

Teatro Vascello is at Via Giacinto Carini 78, in Monteverde Vecchio. Bus 75 stops in front of the entrance.

By the 75 and the other lines

The 75 connects Termini, the Colosseum and Piramide with Monteverde and is the most convenient line from the center. The theater also lists lines 44, 710, 870 and 871. The updated route, with any detours, can be checked on the ATAC planner.

By train from Ostiense

From Ostiense station, connected to the Piramide stop of metro line B, the train takes you to Quattro Venti station, on Viale dei Quattro Venti, a few steps from the theater. On January weeknights it is often the fastest solution.

By car

The theater points out parking along Via delle Mura Gianicolensi, about 100 meters away. Paid car parks: Via Giacinto Carini 43, Via Maurizio Quadrio 22, partnered with the theater if you show your ticket, and Via Raffaello Giovagnoli 20.

On foot

From Trastevere you climb through the streets of the Janiculum: an uphill walk, to be done with time to spare and comfortable shoes on cold January evenings.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

Everyone knows that Rezza and Mastrella won the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2018. Less often cited is the official citation, which is the best possible introduction to Metadietro. The document, signed by the Biennale president Paolo Baratta and the director Antonio Latella, describes Rezza as the artist who fuses totally, in a single body, the two distinctions of actor and performer, and Mastrella as the artist who creates habitats and scenic spaces that are art forms, inhabited and devastated by Rezza. It is a definition that can be found word for word in the notes for Metadietro: on one side the virtual space made matter, the ecopentagon, Mastrella's egocentric building. On the other Rezza's admiral crossing it. A second fact, known but little told: before the Golden Lion, the duo had already received in 2007 the Francesca Alinovi prize, devoted to the convergence of the arts. The recognition says a lot about how Rezza and Mastrella were read from the start: not only as theater people, but as artists who cross sculpture, photography, cinema, television and literature. A third fact: the first book devoted to the duo, La noia incarnita by Rossella Bonito Oliva, carries in its subtitle the formula involuntary theater. It is a label that explains the (never) written on the posters better than any interview.

Monteverde and the Janiculum around the Vascello

The Vascello is in Monteverde Vecchio, the residential district that rises from Trastevere toward the Janiculum and the historic villas. In January it is a quiet area, with the shopping streets still lit by the holidays in the first week.

The viewpoint

The Janiculum is a few minutes' walk away. On clear January days the view over Rome is sharp. Before the Sunday matinee it is the perfect stop.

Villa Sciarra and Villa Pamphilj

Villa Sciarra and Villa Doria Pamphilj are the two large green spaces of the district. In winter they close early, and the hours should be checked before heading out.

San Pietro in Montorio and the Acqua Paola

Going down toward Trastevere you meet San Pietro in Montorio and the Acqua Paola Fountain, the Fontanone: two stops to combine with an afternoon walk.

Trastevere

Trastevere remains the natural arrival point after the show, with the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere lit in the square.

The right photo to take at Metadietro by Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella at Teatro Vascello, January 5-17, 2027

No photos during the performance: the duo's shows live on darkness, precise lights and an actor in constant motion, and a lit phone ruins the view for the whole row. The first right photo is at the entrance: the facade of the Vascello on Via Giacinto Carini with the poster of Metadietro. The official images of the show, signed by Flavia Mastrella with Annalisa Gonnella and Giulio Mazzi, show Rezza in blue kneeling in front of his scene partner, among translucent veils and metal poles on a red background: the poster itself is already a small work of art, and worth the shot. The second photo is taken on the Janiculum before the matinee, with the low light of a January afternoon and the domes of Rome sharp in the cold air: an image that, by contrast, sits well beside the admiral's artificial blue. The third is a detail: the program sheet with the formula (never) written by Antonio Rezza and the long list of technical credits, from the tailoring to the metalwork. Those who also saw 7-14-21-28 during the holidays can put the two tickets side by side: the memory of two shows by the same duo, 16 years apart, in the same hall. General rule: no flash and no video, not even during the applause, unless the theater says otherwise.

Where to eat before or after Metadietro

Inside Teatro Vascello is the Coffee Plant Bistrot, convenient for a coffee or a snack before the start.

In Monteverde

The trattorias and pizzerias of Monteverde, frequented by residents, are the simplest choice after a 21:00 performance: fair prices and no crossing of the city.

In Trastevere

After the Saturday 19:00 and Sunday 17:00 performances you go down to Trastevere, where osterias and pizzerias stay open late. On Saturday night it is better to book.

Epiphany

On January 6 many places are open on holiday hours: it is best to check in advance, especially if you want to have dinner after the show.

Some important events that took place here in history

The Vascello was born with a strong gesture: on May 4, 1989 the hall opened with Qui non ci torno più by Tadeusz Kantor, with the Cricot Theater of Warsaw. In the following years the Monteverde theater hosted Raul Ruiz, the Centro di ricerca of Pontedera, and American and French contemporary dance companies. In May 1996 the festival Extraordinario staged 16 young Italian companies. 1998 was the year of the ministerial recognition as Teatro Stabile d'Innovazione and of a co-production with the Berliner Ensemble, the theater founded by Brecht. In spring 2001 Giancarlo Nanni was the first Italian invited to work and teach at the Actors Studio in New York. In 2003 the Premio Valentino Zeichen, devoted to poetry, was born, and in 2004 the Sala Studio opened. January 2010 marked Nanni's death and the passing of the direction to Manuela Kustermann. In December of the same year Rezza and Mastrella presented here, for a month, the complete anthology of their theater. Every fall, for more than 20 years, the Romaeuropa Festival has brought part of its program to the Vascello. In 2025 Metadietro debuted, co-produced by the theater. The January 2027 return adds a new chapter to the bond between the duo and this hall.

Accessibility, young people and practical information

The Teatro Vascello website has a section devoted to accessibility, with information on access, reserved seats and services, to be consulted before buying.

With young people

Metadietro is suitable for high school students who love surreal comedy and physical theater: it speaks of technology, markets and individual will, themes that younger people recognize. It is not designed for small children.

Running time and punctuality

One hour and 35 minutes of show requires continuous attention: it is best to arrive rested and on time. Latecomers disturb an intimate hall like the Vascello.

January in Rome

After Epiphany the city returns to its daily rhythm, with theaters frequented mostly by Romans. Those coming from out of town can combine Metadietro with a visit to Trastevere or the Janiculum, or with Il viale del tramonto by Muta Imago, at the Vascello from January 19 to 24.

Who has passed through Metadietro by Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella at Teatro Vascello, January 5-17, 2027

The Vascello stage and the history of the company that runs it count prominent presences. At Teatro La Fede, in the 1970s, Steve Lacy and John Cage arrived, the director Gérard Gelas and the Living Theatre passed through, and Memè Perlini and Giuliano Vasilicò trained. Since 1989, at the Vascello, there have come Tadeusz Kantor with the Cricot, Raul Ruiz, the Pontedera Centre, Teatri Uniti, Moni Ovadia, Carlo Cecchi, Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, Societas Raffaello Sanzio, Teatro Valdoca and Pippo Delbono. For dance, Enzo Cosimi, Sosta Palmizi, Virgilio Sieni and Wim Vandekeybus. Bob Wilson and Peter Brook are the best-known international names: Brook brought Beckett's Happy Days with Natasha Parry. Massimo Verdastro performed Hedda Gabler and As You Like It there in 1993, directed by Nanni, and presented his Satyricon in 2012. Manuela Kustermann, cofounder and artistic director, runs through this whole history. Then there are Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella, who brought the whole anthology of their theater to the Vascello in 2010 and return every season. With Metadietro also passing through this hall are Daniele Cavaioli, the voices of Noemi Pirastru and Mauro Ranucci, Massimo Camilli, Alice Mollica and the technical team that makes Mastrella's habitat possible.

Frequently asked questions about Metadietro at Teatro Vascello

When does Metadietro play in Rome?

Metadietro plays at Teatro Vascello in Rome from January 5 to 17, 2027: Tuesday to Friday at 21:00, Saturday at 19:00, Sunday at 17:00. The theater is at Via Giacinto Carini 78, in Monteverde Vecchio.

How long is Metadietro?

Metadietro lasts one hour and 35 minutes. Onstage are Antonio Rezza and Daniele Cavaioli, in Flavia Mastrella's habitat, with the offstage voices of Noemi Pirastru and Mauro Ranucci.

What is Metadietro by Rezza and Mastrella about?

Metadietro tells of an electric-blue admiral who tries to bring his ship to safety, stunned by a throng with market obsessions. The authors' notes speak of mutiny, of distancing from one's own will, of technological cruelty and of the disappearance of the hero.

Where do you buy tickets for Metadietro?

Tickets for Metadietro are bought from the official website of Teatro Vascello, which links to the authorized presale network, or at the theater's box office. The 2026/2027 season cards must be bought at least 24 hours before first use.

How do you get to Teatro Vascello?

You reach Teatro Vascello by bus 75, which connects Termini, the Colosseum and Piramide with Monteverde and stops in front of the entrance, or by lines 44, 710, 870 and 871. By train you get off at Quattro Venti station, leaving from Ostiense.

Is Metadietro different from 7-14-21-28?

Metadietro is a 2025 show, while 7-14-21-28 dates from 2009: same duo, same hall, different themes. Teatro Vascello programs them one after the other, 7-14-21-28 from December 22 to January 3 and Metadietro from January 5 to 17, 2027.

Is Metadietro suitable for young people?

Metadietro is suitable for high school students who love surreal comedy and physical theater. The duo's language is irreverent and the show lasts more than an hour and a half without declared breaks: it is not designed for small children.

The final advice on Metadietro at Teatro Vascello

Few Italian artists have such a long relationship with a single hall. Seeing Metadietro at the Vascello means seeing Rezza and Mastrella at home, in the theater that co-produces their work and has hosted them for more than 15 years. In our view it is the right show to start 2027 at the theater: current in its themes, comic in its language, rigorous in its construction. The advice is to choose a weeknight, read the two authors' notes first and not look for a plot. And those with time during the holidays can see 7-14-21-28 first: the comparison is worth the double ticket.

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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