Daniele Finzi Pasca Comes to London with DONKA - A LETTER TO CHEKHOV, June 2-8

Having played to audiences around the world, Donka makes its UK premiere 2-8 June as part of Southbank Centre's Festival of the World with MasterCard with its dazzling aerial acrobatics, multi-media illusion and circus magic. Created by the award-winning Daniele Finzi Pasca, who wrote and directed Cirque du Soleil's acclaimed Corteo as well the Broadway hit Rain, Donka offers an intoxicating marriage of wit and wonder, surrealism and pure escapism.

Inspired by Anton Chekhov and featuring a troupe of clowns, acrobats and musicians, Donka celebrates the great Russian writer's delight in the serious play and illusion of theatre conjuring up a spellbinding world of breathtaking beauty. The piece immerses the audience in Chekhov's life, his writings and his diaries and gives shape and form to his enigmatic silences. An international cast of accomplished performers, decadent clowns, musicians, dancers and acrobats inhabit and animate the stage, whilst underneath Maria Bonzanigo's music spreads like a resonant carpet, recalling the atmosphere of a faraway pre-revolutionary Russia. Accordions mix with waltzes, romantic ballads with traditional choirs whilst a parade of Chekhoivian characters, students, doctors, dreamers, bachelors and young girls who will spend their lives in mourning, pay homage to the great Russian playwright.

Daniele Finzi Pasca was born in Lugano, Switzerland in 1964. He is a director, author, choreographer and a clown. His work has spanned various companies including many productions with his company Teatro Sunil. Amongst these, he created and directed Cirque du Soleil's 2005 touring show, Corteo. He founded 'Teatro Sunil' in 1983, and has written and directed over 30 different productions which have received critical acclaim. Icarus, one of his earlier plays, has been staged more than seven hundred times since its opening in 1991. In 2006 he directed and created closing of the Turin Olympics and won the Swiss Award in the show business category, as well as being nominated for the 'Desk Award' on Broadway. Pasca is well known for running workshops for companies all over the world, including names such as Canada's National Circus School and Cirque du Soleil. His prolific writing style also led to his acclaimed work with Cirque Eloize, producing the shows Nomade - La Nuit le Ciel est Plus Grand and Rain - Comme une Pluie dans Tes Yeux. In 2011 he founded the Compagnia Finzi Pasca along with Maria Bonzanigo, Hugo Gargiulo, Julie Hamelin and Antonio Vergamini, combining the Teatro Sunil and the Inlevitas Production Company.

Maria Bonzanigo has worked closely with Daniele Finzi Pasca since joining his company Teatro Sunil in 1984. She studied composition with Swiss-American composer Paul Glass and dance with Rosalia Chladek and went on to develop a highly personal approach of her own to creating music for the stage. In addition to her work for theatre, she also composed for the highly-acclaimed Cirque Eloize circus shows Rain and Nomade and the Cirque De Soleil show Corteo.

Tickets are £30, £27.50, £25, and £20 with a Booking Fee of £1.75 (Members £0.00) and Concessions at 50% off (limited availability) from 0844 875 007 and www.ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk.

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