"Work in Progress" by Gianina Cărbunariu

Genesis of a theatrical mockumentary

Abstract

The paper describes the development of the project Work in Progress, organized in 2018 by Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione and led by the Romanian director and playwright Gianina Cărbunariu, as an experience of theatre creation, based on the result of an Acting Masterclass for sixteen young italian actors. The project is closely related to our times by subject and methods; the working team built a show based on the topic of job after a long research in the specific context of the Italian town of Modena. The paper contextualizes the project in Cărbunariu’s artistic career and uses it as an example of her own directing and writing methods for the stage. The text particularly focuses on the genesis of the concept of the show and – as the director herself defined it as a theatrical mockumentary – on the relation between documentation and fiction. Some more relevant aspects also were stressed: specific attitudes required to the actors by this kind of approach and their integration in the creative process, director’s strategies aimed to activate audience’s reaction. The author has taken part in the whole process as tutor.