Manifesto Poetico is an ongoing exploration of life through theatre.
A place to research, question and create — where theatrical language is not fixed, but can transform through the encounter between people, bodies, spaces and imagination.
THEATRE FOR AND WITH THE PEOPLE.
Theatre changes every time it happens.
It changes with the people who make it, the places where it happens and the audiences who encounter it. The same story is never quite the same.
Manifesto Poetico was born from a desire to remain open to this transformation — to research, experiment and create beyond established forms.
We are interested in what happens when theatre is approached not as a fixed language, but as a living process.
A process in which research and creation are inseparable.
Manifesto Poetico does not propose a fixed method, style or formula.
The work begins with questions.
How can space become part of the dramaturgy?
How can the body think and generate meaning?
What can a mask reveal?
How can the bouffon open a door to what we may not yet see?
What is the space of a clown?
Can theatre challenge cinema without relying on modern technology?
How can movement, structure, rhythm and image create theatrical language?
What happens when we create with people rather than simply making theatre about them?
And what becomes possible when the audience is not only watching, but completing the theatrical encounter?
SPACE CAN SPEAK.
Theatre does not only happen in space.
Space can act, transform and create meaning.
THE BODY CAN THINK.
Movement is not simply physical expression.
It can be a way of discovering, organising and communicating.
A MASK CAN REVEAL.
The mask can transform how we see, move and relate — opening possibilities that may remain hidden behind the face.
COMEDY CAN CONTAIN TRAGEDY.
Laughter and pain are not opposites.
They can exist within the same theatrical experience.
PEOPLE ARE PART OF THE CREATION.
Theatre becomes richer when it emerges from an encounter with people, places and lived experience.
THE AUDIENCE COMPLETES THE WORK.
A performance is not complete until it enters into relationship with those who experience it.
A position.
A decision to act.
A commitment to a way of working.
Not a doctrine.
Not a set of rules.
A commitment to keep searching.
Not poetry as a literary form.
Poetic as a way of creating meaning through the body, space, image, rhythm, relationship and imagination.
A way of paying attention to how meaning emerges.
A name for an ongoing practice —
a way of researching, creating and sharing through theatre.
Manifesto Poetico began in 1998 through an exploration of mask and Contemporary Commedia dell'Arte.
Over time, the research expanded towards gesture, movement, structure and space — leading to the development of Spatial Dramaturgy and other interconnected areas of research.
Today, the practice continues to evolve through artistic creation, performance, pedagogy, collaboration and research.
The form changes because the questions change.
We believe theatre is not only something presented to an audience.
It is something created through encounter.
Between performer and spectator.
Between body and space.
Between individual and collective.
Between different artistic disciplines.
Between what is known and what is still being discovered.
For Manifesto Poetico, creating theatre means creating relationships.
And perhaps this is the simplest reason why we continue:
To create spaces where people can meet, imagine and experience together
— where many ways of seeing, being and living can coexist.
The questions behind Manifesto Poetico are explored through different research territories and forms of practice.
