Le Lasagne della nonna
How do minority groups balance multiple identities in a new environment? In Le Lasagne della nonna, director Massimo Furlan and dramaturg Claire de Ribaupierre take you on a journey from Italy to Switzerland through the eyes of female immigrants. Their stories intertwine with the experiences of queer individuals in our society. What does integration do to who we are?
Festival Brandhaarden
Location Grote Zaal
Duration 90 minutes
Genre Theatre
Language French and Italian
Subtitles English and Dutch
Aftertalk 4 feb at The Bookshop
Le Lasagne della nonna
In Les Italiens, Massimo Furlan invited Italian immigrants to share their memories and dreams—caught between their homeland, Italy, which they left in the 1960s, and modern Switzerland, which they helped build. Today, Le Lasagne della nonna focuses on the lives of women who arrived during those same years. What place have they found in Switzerland? How have they managed to integrate?
Giuseppina, Rita, Lucia, and Anna had to learn French as they went. They raised their children, and later their grandchildren. They worked their entire lives. On stage, these grandmothers meet two young men, not yet thirty, whose histories and experiences differ greatly from theirs, yet who also grapple with questions of cultural blending and multiple identities. Davide, Giuseppina’s grandson, fled his birthplace due to a lack of tolerance toward his homosexuality. And then there is Ali Lamaadli, who comes from elsewhere—much farther away—from another culture, with a different language and religion. They share the same sense of uprootedness and the ongoing search for a place to inhabit, build, and invent.
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On stage, they speak of gestures and knowledge, distant yet vivid traditions like cooking and dancing, and more contemporary practices such as cross-dressing or drag. They each embody a true cultural fusion, multiple identities, and different eras. They share the same uprootedness, a continuous search for a place to inhabit, build, and invent.
These grandmothers were once young women, born in Italy at the end of the war. On stage, they meet two young men, not yet thirty, with very different histories and experiences, yet who also question their roots.
Together, they will speak about their situation, their experience of being “foreign,” and how that has evolved over time. They will share what family means to them, how they are received, and where their political engagement lies. On stage, we will attempt to create a community that explores what it means to be an actor or actress, what it is to dance in public, and to speak from your own perspective. All these simple, essential stories speak to today’s world and its challenges—about tolerance, violence, fear of the other, but also about the power of connection—and they are shared with the audience.
4 February at 21:30 - The Bookshop
Aftertalk
After Le Lasagne della nonna, the creators will engage in a conversation with the audience. Together, we will pause to reflect on the stories of migration, family, and cultural blending that come to life in the performance. How did you experience the encounter on stage? Do you recognize this scene in real life?
This post-show talk offers space to ask questions, share memories, and reflect together on themes such as identity, integration, and connection. It is an invitation to exchange—where personal stories and shared experiences come together.
Please note: this conversation will be held in English.
Massimo Furlan
Massimo Furlan is a theater and performance artist born and based in Lausanne who founded the company Numero23Prod in 2003. His work draws on his personal history as a child of Italian descent in Switzerland and combines burlesque, philosophical, and poetic elements to address the collective memory of a generation. In his projects, he creates so-called ‘long images’ with other performers, inspired by cinema and installation art, and develops unique protocols for site-specific works together with Claire de Ribaupierre.
Claire de Ribaupierre (1968, Lausanne) is a literary scholar and researcher with a PhD in contemporary literature, active at the intersection of anthropology, visual arts, and performing arts. She teaches dramaturgy, methodology, and anthropology at La Manufacture. Since 2017, she has been developing a documentary artistic practice with non-professional performers, in which she questions representation and authorship. In recent projects, she explores our relationship to the environment, animals, gestures, and knowledge transfer.
Over Brandhaardenb
Brandhaarden is an international theatre festival that brings productions by remarkable theatre makers from abroad to Amsterdam. The festival offers a unique focus on one artist, company, writer, region, or theme. This year, we shine the spotlight on Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, a house at the intersection of individual experience and collective concerns. It creates a space where today’s global themes resonate, are shared, and questioned. In a world that is increasingly polarized, Théâtre Vidy manages to touch a nerve and sharpen the audience’s critical gaze.
In previous editions, we highlighted directors such as Katie Mitchell, Milo Rau, and the collective Rimini Protokoll; writer Édouard Louis; the Southern European region (Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece); and city theatres like Münchner Kammerspiele, Volksbühne Berlin, and Peter Brook’s Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord.
Credits
with Davide Brancato, Giuseppina Carlucci, Rita Sperti, Lucia de Giovanni, Anna Guarino-Lermieri, Ali Lamaadli
a project by Massimo Furlan and Claire de Ribaupierre
direction Massimo Furlan
dramaturgy Claire de Ribaupierre
assistant Martin Reinartz
rehearsal coaching and choreography Anne Delahaye
technical direction and video Jérôme Vernez
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lighting Etienne Gaches
sound and music Aurélien Godderis-Chouzenoux
costumes Anna Van Bree
costume workshop Marie Bajenova, Karolina Luisoni, Pauline Roldan
make-up and wigs Julie Monot
scenography collaboration Marco Ievoli
set construction The workshops of Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Brandhaarden is financially supported by
