In a watch factory in Switzerland, Agota Kristof works in silence, immersed in the obsessive rhythm of the machines that mark time. In the drawer of her worktable, there’s a sheet of paper and a pencil: when a thought takes shape, she quickly writes it down as if not to lose it. The local language is foreign to her, and using it is a constant challenge of being “illiterate.” Yet, amid the incessant ticking of the machines, her story begins to take form. To tell herself, Kristof must invent masks (those of Lucas, Claus, Sandor, or Line), and the factory soon becomes the stage for an inner world where dreams and childhood memories blend with images of the present.
The Italian theater company Fanny & Alexander brings these pages to the stage. With remarkable fidelity, Federica Fracassi embodies Kristof: the same expression, glasses, and posture. The writer resurfaces through her body and voice, transporting us into a limbo suspended between reality and fiction. The sound design transforms the ticking of the clocks into a vital heartbeat, shaping a labyrinth of memory and writing where past and present intertwine. An act of remembrance and resurrection that awakens Kristof’s soul in a dance between what has been and what still lives in her thoughts.
Chiara Lagani Actress, playwright, and translator, Chiara Lagani writes the original texts for the productions of the Fanny & Alexander group, founded in Ravenna with Luigi Noha De Angelis in 1992. In 2017, she was awarded the Premio Riccione Speciale for Dramaturgical Innovation. She co-wrote the play La mia battaglia (Einaudi, 2021) with Elio Germano. She has curated and translated The Oz Books by Frank L. Baum (Einaudi, 2017, I Millenni), illustrated by Mara Cerri, and Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll (Einaudi, 2021). In 2022, the first volume of the graphic novel based on My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, written by Lagani and illustrated by Mara Cerri, was released by Coconino/Fandango. Among Fanny & Alexander’s many projects are a series of performances based on Nabokov’s Ada, Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, and Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, as well as a recent show based on Agota Kristof’s The City of K. Trilogy, produced by Piccolo Teatro di Milano, which won five Ubu Awards in 2024 and the ANCT Prize.
Luigi Noah De Angelis Director, set designer, light and sound designer, filmmaker. He has directed all of Fanny & Alexander’s productions, including Nina (coproduced by the Festival d’Automne in Paris and presented at Romaeuropa in 2023), Addio Fantasmi(based on the novel by Nadia Terranova), Storia di un’amicizia (from E. Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend), Se Questo è Levi, double UBU Award winner, and Sylvie e Bruno (based on Lewis Carroll). In 2023, he directed, designed the sets, lights, and video for The City of K. Trilogy at Piccolo Teatro, Milan, winning Ubu Awards in 2024 for Best Show, Direction, Set, and Lights. The Trilogy also won the ANCT Award for Best Show. As an opera director, he has worked on various musical theater productions, including The Magic Flute (2015), Orfeo nel metrò (2019), The Uninhabited Island (2021), The Return of Ulysses (2019), Lohengrin (2022), and The Barber of Seville (2023). For MuziektheaterTransparant (BE), he directed musical theater shows like Orfeo Viajero, Serge, and The Garden(presented at Romaeuropa in 2021).
Federica Fracassi A sensitive interpreter of new dramaturgies, dedicated to visionary, fierce, and poetic classical and contemporary writings, Federica Fracassi has carved out an independent path in the field of experimental theater since the beginning of her career. Actress, as well as reader, author, and curator, she co-founded the theater company Teatro Aperto, later Teatro i, with the director Renzo Martinelli, and directed its eponymous space in Milan, a true factory of contemporary theater active from 2004 to 2022. She collaborated with Fanny & Alexander on The City of K. Trilogy by Agota Kristof, where she plays the role of the writer, produced by Piccolo Teatro di Milano and winner of the ANCT Prize 2024 and five Ubu Awards 2024. In 2025, she will star in the international project Il Vertice, directed by Christoph Marthaler. Among her most significant cinematic experiences in Italy and internationally (with directors such as Virzì, Verdone, Archibugi, Albanese, and Satrapi), her ongoing collaboration with Marco Bellocchio stands out. She has received numerous awards, including the Menzione d’onore and Premio Eleonora Duse, Ubu Award, Maschere del Teatro Italiano, San Ginesio Prize for Acting, Hystrio 2021 Award for Interpretation, and the Le Forme del Cinema Award.
with Federica Fracassi
direction scenes and lights Luigi Noah De Angelis
sound design Damiano Meacci
dramaturgy Chiara Lagani
organisation and promotion Marco Molduzzi
administration Stefano Toma
production E Production, Piccolo Teatro di Milano / Teatro d’Europa, Teatro Stabile di Bolzano,
in collaboration with Romaeuropa Festival,
AMAT and Municipality of San Benedetto del Tronto
