Brevet (The letter)

A man comes on stage, sits at the table, pours himself a glass of wine and starts writing a letter. This scene repeats 15 times, without words and always in a different style: backwards, drunk, without hands, as a silent movie, western or horror version. It is absurd, completely wound-up physical theatre performed by a master of body language, mime and scenic precision.

The solo “Brevet” (“The letter”) by and with Paolo Nani was created in 1992 in cooperation with the director Nullo Facchini, founder and head of the theatre Cantabile 2, whose piece “10 ukendte soldater” (“10 unknown soldiers”) was shown at euro-scene Leipzig in 1996. Nani has now shown “Brevet” over 1,650 times in 43 countries. The solo was awarded the European Comedy Prize “United Slapstick” in Frankfurt/Main in 1994 and advanced to become a classic of comedic theatre of modernity. The piece was already presented at euro-scene Leipzig 2015.

Paolo Nani was born in Ferrara / Italy and studied art at the University of Bologna. From 1978-90, he was member of the Teatro Nucleo in his home city. After moving to Denmark in 1990, he first worked with the theatre Cantabile 2, before he founded the Paolo Nani Teater in 1995. Some of his most successful pieces have been, in addition to “Brevet”, “Kunsten at dø” (“The art of dying”, 2003/2018) and “Jekyll & Hyde” (2009). He continued to devote himself to the Jekyll figure in “Jekyll on ice” (2012) and “Magical Jekyll” (2020).