Uno scherzo del genere with Emanuela Grimalda and Gianluca Ramazzotti at Teatro Nino Manfredi, March 11 to 21, 2027

Uno scherzo del genere, the comedy by Jade Rose Parker in the Italian version by David Conati, with Emanuela Grimalda and Gianluca Ramazzotti and directed by Gabriel Olivares, is on at Teatro Nino Manfredi in Ostia from March 11 to 21, 2027, at Via dei Pallottini 10, in Ostia Lido. There are nine performances: Thursday, March 11, Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 13 at 21:00, Sunday, March 14 at 17:30. Thursday, March 18 at 17:30, Friday, March 19 at 21:00, Saturday, March 20 at 17:30 and at 21:00, Sunday, March 21 at 17:30. Also on stage are Mauro Conte and Virginia Bonacini. The show is by Compagnia Oliver & Friends and is included in the season subscription. The prices given by the theater are €25 full price, €23 reduced, €12 for under 25s and €17 per person for groups of at least 15 people. Manfredi is reached by the Roma Lido railway, which leaves from Porta San Paolo next to the Piramide stop on Metro Line B, getting off at Lido Centro station, a short distance from the theater. Tickets are bought on the official website of Teatro Nino Manfredi, which links to the authorized presale circuit, or at the box office, by phone at 06 56324849.

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

Uno scherzo del genere arrives in Ostia after its success in Paris last season and a Spanish version directed by Olivares himself: a comedy of errors that starts from an unexpected revelation inside an upper-class family. What follows covers the dates, the plot, the cast, the director, the theater in Ostia, how to get there and how to organize a day on the coast.

Uno scherzo del genere at Teatro Nino Manfredi: dates, times and prices

Uno scherzo del genere is on at Teatro Nino Manfredi for nine performances over two long weekends, from March 11 to 21, 2027, with evening shows at 21:00 and matinees at 17:30.

The first week

Thursday, March 11, Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 13 at 21:00. Sunday, March 14 at 17:30.

The second week

Thursday, March 18 at 17:30. Friday, March 19 at 21:00. Saturday, March 20 double performance, at 17:30 and at 21:00. Sunday, March 21 at 17:30. The Thursday afternoon of the second week is meant for people who prefer not to go out in the evening.

Prices

Full price €25, reduced €23, under 25 €12. For groups booking together, starting from 15 people, €17 each. The theater lists the show as a subscription title.

The billing

Text by Jade Rose Parker, adaptation by David Conati, direction by Gabriel Olivares, production Compagnia Oliver & Friends. On stage Emanuela Grimalda, Gianluca Ramazzotti, Mauro Conte and Virginia Bonacini.

The plot of Uno scherzo del genere: a revelation in the De Monte Capuano home

Carla is an elegant upper-class lady, married to Francesco De Monte Capuano, a politician preparing to be reelected. For more than 25 years everything has gone smoothly, until one evening Carla reveals to her husband that she has prostate cancer, and that she was a man before the marriage.

The bolt from the blue

The theater's presentation speaks of a bolt from the blue in the De Monte Capuano home. The revelation arrives at the worst moment for a politician in an election campaign, and puts the marriage, the family and the public reputation in question all at once.

The avalanche of misunderstandings

From that moment an avalanche of misunderstandings, revelations and unpredictable situations overwhelms the couple and their family. It's the classic mechanism of situation comedy, applied to a theme that traditional comedy has rarely faced head on.

Laughter and social criticism

The theater presents the show as a comedy between laughter and social criticism, meant to get people talking even after the curtain falls. Gender identity, the fear of judgment, the hypocrisy of politics and of good society are the targets of a humor that promises to be corrosive.

The text: from Paris to Spain to Ostia

Uno scherzo del genere is a contemporary French text by Jade Rose Parker, presented by Teatro Nino Manfredi as a resounding success of last season in Paris, adapted into Italian by David Conati.

The Italian version

David Conati's version is described by the theater as beautiful and dynamic. The Italian title plays on the double reading of genere, as a kind of joke and as identity, and anticipates the tone of the show.

Three comic traditions

According to the presentation, the show balances the laughter and the nuances of a solid French text by crossing the corrosive Italian-style comedy and passing through Spanish irreverence. Three traditions of European comedy in a single evening.

A European comedy

A text born in France, already directed in Spain, performed by an Italian cast: it's an increasingly frequent path in contemporary light comedy, which circulates among European countries the way boulevard farces once did.

Emanuela Grimalda, Carla

Emanuela Grimalda was born in Trieste on June 26, 1964 and is an actress who has alternated theater, film and television for more than 30 years. The wider public remembers her above all as Ave Maria Battiston in Un medico in famiglia.

From Trieste to Bologna

She graduated from the Istituto d'Arte in Trieste and moved to Bologna to attend DAMS, thinking of a future as a painter. She trained instead as an actress at the Alessandra Galante Garrone theater school. In Bologna she founded the cultural club Terzo Piano and worked, among other things, as a waitress, poet, babysitter and painter, before moving to Rome.

Film

She made her film debut in 1996 with Uomo d'acqua dolce by Antonio Albanese. Then came L'amico del cuore by Vincenzo Salemme, Vacanze di Natale 2000 and Febbre da cavallo. La mandrakata by Carlo Vanzina, next to Gigi Proietti, A cavallo della tigre by Carlo Mazzacurati, La bellezza del somaro by Sergio Castellitto, Manuale d'amore 3 by Giovanni Veronesi and Assolo by Laura Morante.

Television

On television she debuted in 2000 in Sei forte, maestro with Emilio Solfrizzi. She is in B.R.A. Braccia rubate all'agricoltura by Serena Dandini, in the sitcom Cotti e mangiati with Marina Massironi and Flavio Insinna, in I Cesaroni, in the remake of Rebecca. La prima moglie next to Mariangela Melato, in Tutti pazzi per amore. Since 2009 she has been Ave Maria Battiston, mother of Dr. Guido Zanin, in Un medico in famiglia. In 2024 she plays Maria Villaggio in the TV movie Com'è umano lui!, dedicated to Paolo Villaggio.

Gianluca Ramazzotti, Francesco De Monte Capuano

Gianluca Ramazzotti was born in Rome on August 22, 1970 and is a theater, film and television actor and comedian, with long experience in light comedy and musical theater.

Training

He attended the Accademia di Teatro di Calabria and advanced courses at the Warsaw Theater and the Théâtre du Soleil in Paris. He joined Pier Francesco Pingitore's Bagaglino company, taking part in variety shows and TV dramas.

Television and radio

He has acted in the TV dramas Vivere and Un posto al sole and in the TV movie Il papa buono by Ricky Tognazzi. He also works as a speaker and voice actor, above all in the morning radio dramas on Radio2.

Theater

His theater repertoire is vast: Rugantino by Garinei and Giovannini at Teatro Sistina in the role of Bojetto, Se devi dire una bugia dilla grossa, Boeing Boeing by Camoletti directed by Claudio Insegno, Va tutto storto! by Lejeune, Complici by Rupert Holmes, Il re muore by Ionesco with Giancarlo Sepe, many Pingitore shows and his own productions such as Destinatario sconosciuto with Giampiero Ingrassia. Among recent titles is 2.24 by the Spaniards Pascual Carbonell and Jerónimo Cornelle: Spanish comedy is not foreign to him.

Mauro Conte, Virginia Bonacini and Compagnia Oliver & Friends

Alongside Grimalda and Ramazzotti perform Mauro Conte and Virginia Bonacini, in the production by Compagnia Oliver & Friends.

An all-Italian cast

The theater stresses that the cast is all Italian, led by Grimalda and Ramazzotti, despite a Spanish director and a French text. The De Monte Capuano family and its secret come to life through four performers.

The company

Oliver & Friends is the producing company named by Teatro Nino Manfredi. With Gianluca Ramazzotti in the lead role, the project fits into a long experience of light comedy.

Gabriel Olivares, the director

Gabriel Olivares is presented by Teatro Nino Manfredi as one of the most successful directors of recent years on the Spanish scene, and last season he also directed the Spanish version of this comedy.

A direction already tested

The fact that Olivares has already staged the same text in Spain means the Italian version comes from well-rehearsed work: he knows the comic timing of the script and the audience's reactions.

Verve and quality

The theater writes that his direction will add verve and quality to an all-Italian cast. For the spectator it means a comedy built on rhythm, where precise timing counts as much as the lines.

Teatro Nino Manfredi, the theater hall of Ostia

Teatro Nino Manfredi is a 288-seat theater at Via dei Pallottini 10, in Ostia Lido, created from a former cinema theater taken over in December 2004 by Felice Della Corte and four partners and inaugurated on September 30, 2005.

The name

The theater is named after Nino Manfredi, who died on June 4, 2004, a few months before the project took shape. At the opening night the actor's widow, Erminia Ferrari, was present.

The season

Manfredi offers a subscription theater season, shows for children and teenagers, matinees for schools and a theater school. Light comedy is one of the house genres, in line with the spirit of the actor to whom the hall is dedicated.

The hall

With 288 seats it's a mid-sized theater, intimate enough to get every line to all the rows: a precious quality for a comedy of errors.

How to get to Teatro Nino Manfredi for Uno scherzo del genere

Teatro Nino Manfredi, at Via dei Pallottini 10 in Ostia Lido, is reached by the Roma Lido railway to Lido Centro station, a short distance from the theater.

By train

The Roma Lido railway leaves from Porta San Paolo station, next to the Piramide stop on Metro Line B. From Termini you take Metro Line B to Piramide, change and get off at Lido Centro. For the 21:00 performances, check the time of the last train back in advance.

By car

From Rome you get there by Via del Mare or by Via Cristoforo Colombo. In March, outside the beach season, finding a spot on the streets of Ostia Lido is generally easier than in the central neighborhoods of the capital.

By bus

Ostia is served by city lines that connect the Roma Lido stations with the neighborhoods of the coast: updated routes and times are on the ATAC route planner.

A curiosity about Uno scherzo del genere with Emanuela Grimalda and Gianluca Ramazzotti at Teatro Nino Manfredi, March 11 to 21, 2027

The best curiosity ties the male lead to the name of the theater. Gianluca Ramazzotti acted in Rugantino by Garinei and Giovannini at Teatro Sistina in Rome, in the role of Bojetto, in a production also taken up by television for Rai 2. Rugantino is the Roman musical comedy par excellence, and the first Rugantino, in 1962, was none other than Nino Manfredi, next to Aldo Fabrizi and Bice Valori: the show even went on tour in the United States. Ramazzotti therefore brings to the stage of the theater named after Manfredi a piece of the same tradition that the actor helped to found. It isn't the only thread: in Ramazzotti's repertoire there is also Se devi dire una bugia dilla grossa, another comedy from the Garinei and Giovannini house, the same one that signed Rugantino. Emanuela Grimalda too has a link with great Roman comedy: in 2002 she acted in Febbre da cavallo. La mandrakata by Carlo Vanzina, next to Gigi Proietti, the sequel to one of the comic films most loved by Romans. And there is one last coincidence: in 2024 Grimalda played Maria Villaggio, wife of Paolo Villaggio, in the TV movie Com'è umano lui! directed by Luca Manfredi, son of Nino. The surname of the theater, then, appears twice in the recent biography of the two leads: once on the stage of the Sistina, the other behind the camera.

Something nobody tells you about Uno scherzo del genere with Emanuela Grimalda and Gianluca Ramazzotti at Teatro Nino Manfredi, March 11 to 21, 2027

What isn't said enough is that Uno scherzo del genere is a comedy that is light in form and anything but light in theme. The premise, a wife who after 25 years of marriage reveals to her politician husband that she was a man, and does it by announcing prostate cancer, is of the kind that can go two ways: the cheap joke or the comedy that makes you think. The theater declares the second, speaking of laughter and social criticism and of a comedy meant to get people talking even after the curtain falls. In our view that is exactly the opportunity: to see how a comedy of errors, a genre that lives on slamming doors and misunderstandings, deals with gender identity, illness and the hypocrisy of politics. The second detail the posters don't tell you is the calendar: in the second week, on Thursday, March 18 the performance is in the afternoon, at 17:30, and not in the evening as in the first. Anyone buying a ticket for Thursday should check the date carefully. The third concerns Saturday, March 20, with two performances, at 17:30 and at 21:00: the Saturday matinee is the most comfortable solution for anyone coming from Rome who wants to head home by train without rushing. Finally, the fare for under 25s, €12, makes the show accessible to students: a theme like the one in the text is an excellent occasion to go to the theater with grown children and talk about it afterward.

The advice I give you for seeing Uno scherzo del genere with Emanuela Grimalda and Gianluca Ramazzotti at Teatro Nino Manfredi, March 11 to 21, 2027

The advice is to turn the show into a day at the seaside out of season. In March Ostia is quiet, you can walk the seafront without crowds and the fish restaurants are open: with the 17:30 matinees, Sunday, March 14, Thursday, March 18, Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21, you can arrive in late morning, have lunch on the coast, stroll toward the sea and then go into the theater. Anyone with more time can combine the day with a visit to the excavations of Ostia Antica, one train stop away. The second piece of advice concerns the choice of performance. The first week has three evening shows in a row, from March 11 to 13, and they are generally the dates when the energy of the opening is highest. The second offers more matinees, suited to people coming from far away or with children to look after. The third piece of advice is to take advantage of the under-25 fare to bring grown children to the theater: a comedy that talks about identity, family and prejudice, with actors the public knows from television, can open a conversation that at home doesn't always find the right occasion. Finally, for those heading back to Rome after the 21:00 performance, check the time of the last Roma Lido train beforehand, or arrange to go by car: the comedy ends late and the return has to be planned.

Ostia Lido around the theater

Teatro Nino Manfredi is in Ostia Lido, in Municipio X, the neighborhood of Rome on the sea. In March the coast is quiet, and the seafront remains the classic promenade of the people of Ostia.

Ostia Antica

One train stop away are the excavations of Ostia Antica, the port city of ancient Rome, and the village of Ostia Antica with the castle of Julius II.

The pine forest and the beaches

To the south opens Pineta di Castel Fusano, one of the great green spaces of Rome, and then the beaches of the Roman coast.

The sea in March

The beach clubs are mostly closed, but on sunny days the walk along the seafront is pleasant: before the matinee it's the right way to arrive at the theater.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely cited

It's well known that Nino Manfredi was one of the greats of Italian-style comedy, and that his popularity exploded with the barman from Ceccano on Canzonissima in 1959 and his catchphrase. It's cited less often that Manfredi was first of all a theater actor with rigorous training: he graduated in law in 1945, took his diploma at the Accademia d'arte drammatica in 1947, worked at Teatro Piccolo in Rome with Orazio Costa, at Piccolo in Milan with Giorgio Strehler and then with Eduardo De Filippo at Eliseo in the 1952 and 1953 season. Teatro Nino Manfredi in Ostia, declaring that it draws inspiration from his lesson as a dramatic actor who performed with irony, often chooses exactly comedies like Uno scherzo del genere, which join a smile to a serious theme. It's the same definition that the director Felice Della Corte uses to explain the hall's programming. A second little-cited fact concerns the hall itself: Manfredi was not born as a theater, but from a former cinema theater in Ostia in precarious condition, taken over in December 2004 by Della Corte and four partners, Luciano, Enzo, Paolo and Salvatore, and renovated as a 288-seat theater. The opening night of September 30, 2005 took place under the moved gaze of Erminia Ferrari, Manfredi's widow, who had married the actor in 1955. The March comedy, with its family misunderstandings, fits into this story of a theater built from the ground up.

The right photo to take at Uno scherzo del genere with Emanuela Grimalda and Gianluca Ramazzotti at Teatro Nino Manfredi, March 11 to 21, 2027

In the hall the phone stays off: in a comedy of errors the comic timing is built on the audience's laughter, and a lit screen breaks the rhythm for everyone. The photo is taken outside. The first is the sea: in March, with the 17:30 matinees, there's plenty of time to go down to the Ostia seafront and photograph the sea in the light of early afternoon, with the beaches empty out of season. It's the image that sets an evening at Manfredi apart from any other evening at the theater in Rome. The second is the entrance of the theater on Via dei Pallottini, with the poster of the show and the name of Nino Manfredi on the sign: a simple photo that tells of the seaside city's tribute to one of its great actors. The third, for those who love small stories, is a photo of the ticket next to a memento of Manfredi: a poster of Rugantino, an old record, a family photograph. Ramazzotti acted in the same musical that Manfredi took to success in 1962, and the link deserves a memento. Anyone arriving by train can add a photo at Lido Centro station, the end point of the railway that connects Rome to its sea.

Where to eat in Ostia before or after Uno scherzo del genere

Around Teatro Nino Manfredi and toward the seafront there are fish restaurants, pizzerias and bars open even out of season.

Before the matinee

A fish lunch and then the theater at 17:30: the most typical combination on the coast, suited to Sunday, March 14, Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21.

After the evening performance

On the way out of the 21:00 performances it's best to head for pizzerias and places in the central area of Ostia, keeping an eye on the train time for those going back to Rome.

Booking

On Saturday evening and at Sunday lunch the places on the seafront fill up even out of season: better to book.

Some important events that happened here in history

The history of Teatro Nino Manfredi begins in December 2004, when Felice Della Corte and four partners, Luciano, Enzo, Paolo and Salvatore, take over a former cinema theater in Ostia Lido in precarious condition and decide to turn it into a 288-seat theater. A few months earlier, on June 4, 2004, Nino Manfredi had died, born in Castro dei Volsci in 1921 and raised in Rome in the San Giovanni neighborhood: the new theater takes his name. On September 30, 2005 the hall opens with Un grande grido d'amore by Josiane Balasko, performed by Pamela Villoresi and Pietro Longhi, in the presence of Erminia Ferrari, the actor's widow. The programming draws inspiration from Manfredi's lesson, a dramatic actor who performed with irony. In the following years the theater becomes a steady presence on the coast, with subscription seasons, shows for young audiences, matinees for schools and a theater school. In October 2015 the same experience gave rise to Teatro Marconi, in Rome. In 2019 Della Corte was elected president of the Unione dei Teatri di Roma, the association of private theaters that he helped found. In the 2024/2025 season Manfredi opens with Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore by Pirandello, directed by Claudio Boccaccini. In the 2026/2027 season, after Ferdinando by Annibale Ruccello in January, Uno scherzo del genere arrives in March, a European comedy with two well-known faces of Italian television.

Accessibility, teenagers and practical information

For access for people with disabilities, contact the Teatro Nino Manfredi box office before buying, at 06 56324849 or at 388 0736402.

With teenagers

Uno scherzo del genere is a comedy for adults and older teenagers: the theme of gender identity and illness is treated in a comic but explicit way. The under-25 fare makes it easier to see it as a family with adolescents.

Arriving on time

Ostia Lido is flat and the route from Lido Centro station to the theater is short. If you come by car you can be dropped off in front of the entrance at Via dei Pallottini 10.

March on the coast

In March the days get longer and the coast starts to wake up: the matinees let you combine theater and a walk by the sea in the daylight.

Who has passed through Uno scherzo del genere with Emanuela Grimalda and Gianluca Ramazzotti at Teatro Nino Manfredi, March 11 to 21, 2027

On the stage of Teatro Nino Manfredi, from the very first night, performers such as Pamela Villoresi and Pietro Longhi have passed, leads of the opening of September 30, 2005, and since then the hall has welcomed a long series of actors, directors and companies. Among the guests of recent seasons the local press has noted Nathalie Caldonazzo, lead with Felice Della Corte of a comedy directed by Claudio Boccaccini, and productions signed by Della Corte such as La cena di Vermeer. Boccaccini, Silvia Brogi, Paolo Perinelli and Riccardo Barbera are the traveling companions whom the theater's director cites as indispensable. In October 2026 Compagnia Mauri Sturno passed through Manfredi with Amore non eri prevista. And there is someone who passed without ever setting foot on that stage: Nino Manfredi, lead of Rugantino in 1962 next to Aldo Fabrizi and Bice Valori, inventor on Canzonissima in 1959 of the barman from Ceccano, present in Ostia in the name and in the spirit of the programming. From March 11 to 21, 2027 Emanuela Grimalda and Gianluca Ramazzotti pass through, with Mauro Conte and Virginia Bonacini, the Spanish director Gabriel Olivares and the adapter David Conati. With them, ideally, come the French author Jade Rose Parker, the Parisian audience that decreed the success of the text and the Spanish one that saw its first version directed by Olivares.

Frequently asked questions about Uno scherzo del genere at Teatro Nino Manfredi

When is Uno scherzo del genere on in Ostia?

Uno scherzo del genere is on at Teatro Nino Manfredi in Ostia from March 11 to 21, 2027: Thursday, March 11, Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 13 at 21:00, Sunday, March 14 at 17:30, Thursday, March 18 at 17:30, Friday, March 19 at 21:00, Saturday, March 20 at 17:30 and at 21:00, Sunday, March 21 at 17:30.

How much do tickets for Uno scherzo del genere cost?

Tickets for Uno scherzo del genere at Teatro Nino Manfredi cost €25 full price, €23 reduced and €12 for under 25s. Groups booking together of at least 15 people pay €17 each. They are bought on the theater's website or at the box office.

Who is in Uno scherzo del genere?

The cast of Uno scherzo del genere is Emanuela Grimalda, Gianluca Ramazzotti, Mauro Conte and Virginia Bonacini, directed by the Spaniard Gabriel Olivares. The text is by the Frenchwoman Jade Rose Parker, in the Italian version by David Conati.

What is Uno scherzo del genere about?

Uno scherzo del genere tells of Carla, an upper-class lady married for 25 years to a politician in the middle of an election campaign, who one evening reveals to him that she has prostate cancer and that she was a man before the marriage: an avalanche of misunderstandings follows.

Where is Teatro Nino Manfredi?

Teatro Nino Manfredi is at Via dei Pallottini 10, in Ostia Lido. You get there by the Roma Lido railway, which leaves from Porta San Paolo next to the Piramide stop on Metro Line B, getting off at Lido Centro station, a short distance from the theater.

Is Uno scherzo del genere suitable for teenagers?

Uno scherzo del genere is a comedy suitable for adults and older teenagers: it deals with gender identity, illness and social hypocrisy in a comic but explicit tone. The theater offers a €12 fare for under 25s.

Is it a subscription show?

Uno scherzo del genere is listed by Teatro Nino Manfredi as a subscription show in the 2026/2027 season. If you aren't a subscriber, you can buy a single ticket on the official website or at the box office, at 06 56324849.

The final advice on Uno scherzo del genere

In our view Uno scherzo del genere is the right comedy for anyone who wants to laugh without switching off their brain: a successful French text, a Spanish director who already knows it, two actors loved by the television audience and a theme that Italian comedy rarely takes on. The advice is to choose a matinee, arrive in Ostia in time for lunch and a walk by the sea, and then let yourself be swept up by the misunderstandings of the De Monte Capuano home in a theater that bears the name of the man who, better than anyone, knew how to make people laugh with seriousness.

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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