You can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have.
Maya Angelou
Gianpiero is an actor who has worked as a creator and performer in ‘Teatro delle moire‘ in Milan before joining us at Red Hat Opera. Gianpiero is multilingual, positively contributing to his devising and writing process resulting in beautifully worded textual pieces. He also gives a unique and exclusive perspective of group improvisation and shares some lyrics that he has written for his song.
Do you have a previous background in performance, music, theatre, dance movement?
I have performing experience in theatre and dance movement. But not in music. I performed with ‘Teatro Delle Moire’ in Milan. I’ve been there for 2 years. There was a research group with which we explored the scenic body and made very different performances. They’re very good teachers, directors, and they have a good idea about performance. It was like an improvisation sometimes. We had guidelines but they have suggestions about our experience. Maybe we’ll also have a theme. For example, one of the performances in Milan was ‘Calidoscopio’ and we have a team who used paintings. Sometimes you use a motif but there are different stories [as in the performance], and improvisation that we have never planned before. There were interesting things from every person. Like an audience for a painting, they thought about the different stories, the rich experience they gained and related to their own piece.
Why did you want to come to the workshops?
Because I’m always interested in theatre and the body; in performing. The audience can feel maybe more than the speech because with a word you can mix-up a person; but the body sometimes is more clear than speech. The body can give out more information than one word.
And were you interested in the opera element, voice and singing and vocalisation? How did you experience this in the workshops?
I’ve never sung in the theatre and I was scared about that. I started this course for a big performance on how to use sounds, vocalisation. As an actor, whenever I would discover something new, I take a risk being involved with a group, but it was good. Sounds, pitch, rhythm, volume, variation, I use a lot of different things in the dialogue. Maybe I can’t compare between using the body and using sounds but it feels similar because when you’re working with the body, you’re not talking about your feelings and also with sound you are not talking with words what you’re feeling. But in an irrational way, you can understand them. With song you can experience happy, sad, angry, fear, without saying anything.
What improvisation exercises do you think were the most successful? And why?
I remember choosing and using only 5 words to support our improvisation, without having a real sentence or dialogue. Using different volumes, pitch, speed, tone, timbre, you can make a real piece. I enjoyed when I was there and we discovered what I could do and every time its a new discovery.
What is your experience of being part of the group in improvisation? What roles and interactions did you have?
First, we have to forgive our rational mind because it is our worst enemy for any improvisation. I discovered that every time in the group, it was a very good support. I think not everybody was a professional in theatre and improvisation, but nobody was scared. Don’t be afraid to improvise, to give that feeling, that emotion. It was interesting because on this course, we didn’t have a fixed group. I remember that with different people came different results. Everyone brings new things and I remember what they’ve offered to teach me, it was good learning. I liked it very much. Me with that other guy we made an improvisation with the chair and I didn’t know that we arrived at a point, it was funny, we become synchronised and felt we knew each other. We did not know how we reached that point but it was a perfect point to reach to finish the improvisation. It was like a common mind.
How did improvisation encourage you to use your voice?
Every character should be aware of their own life; clothes and voice are important.
The main character that I remember was a part of nature. We were 2 characters and I thought to be a red character, the object was lava. So it was a very low voice, slow movement, but very tough and it was powerful. And when the lava was cold, the character finished. I follow what I think.
How did improvisation help you to create lyrics and music?
As I said, I’m not a musician so I sang it much to my surprise. I say thanks also to the help of Tsivi. It was weird for me because I’ve written song, lyrics and melody. One half was melody, the other half dialogue. It was written for an actor, not for a musician. I was really surprised when Tsivi shifted me to sing, something I couldn’t imagine it. But I played it like an actor.
What skills do you think you developed in the workshops and how will you use them in the future?
I’m more confident with sound, with my voice, with music, and I have improved my knowledge in gestures, movement, theatre and dance. If I am going to play again, I will use them in future, but I don’t perform in the theatre anymore.
Sky and sea – these things, I like them. Sky and sea – these things, I like them. In my travels I enjoy my life.
The captain shouted: Hurry up, not much time is left! We were tired, the boat wasn’t anchored yet.
Sky and sea – these things, I like them. Sky and sea – these things. I like them. In my travels I enjoy my life.
The crew was caught by an amazing sunset, Wind and waves gave us new struggles. The captain shouted: Hurry up, you know what to do! The crew was united. Two men at the sails, Two men at the anchor, And the last at the helm.
Sky and sea – these things, I like them. But more than them, I enjoy my beautiful life, With my comrades and my captain.
Red Hat Opera Workshop 