The language of the body. Davide Enia’s theatre

Abstract

Davide Enia is one of the most significant authors and actors of the so-called “teatro di narrazione” (narrative theatre): this essay traces his career and production, from the beginnings in the early 2000s to the more recent L’abisso (2018), which is an adaptation of one of his own novels entitled Appunti per un naufragio. Finally, the essay also analyses the “language of the body” that the author-actor elaborates for his monological storytelling. The expression is purposefully ambivalent since it refers to both the mix of dialect and Italian which Enia uses on stage (as well as in his written work), and his particular “talking with the hands” – the hyper-realistic, hyperbolic, and cartoonish gestures that accompany his oral presentations.

Keywords

• teatro di narrazione
• dialetto
• drammaturgia d’attore
• monologo
• lampedusa