HIDE AND SEEK Will Have its UK Debut at VAULT Festival

Italian playwright Tobia Rossi's dark coming-of-age story Hide and Seek will have its UK debut at VAULT Festival in February. This darkly entertaining play delves into bullying and homophobia, following Gio and Mirko on an unflinching and unexpected journey to self-acceptance, with dramatic consequences.

From Zava Productions, this moving play looks at the dangerous power of social media and how vulnerable young minds can be to loud, discriminatory voices around them. Set in a small town in Italy, Gio runs away and hides in a cave, desperate to escape his reality, where he doesn't feel accepted by family, teachers or peers. When his popular classmate Mirko accidentally finds him, Gio enlists him as an accomplice and the rival teenagers embark on a journey of discovery with dark consequences.

In a society where we are encouraged to be ourselves, but 'ourselves' are often not accepted when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity, Hide and Seek explores the devastating impact of homophobia on young people. This brutal, funny and compelling play offers a fresh perspective, placing the point of view with the teenage protagonists, closely examining the dark and deadly consequences of being raised in a close-minded community.

Hide and Seek stars Issam Al Ghussain (Macbeth and King Lear, The Globe; The Beaker Girls, BBC) as Gio and Nico Cetrulo (Confusions, ArtsEd; The Merchant of Venice and Sapho & Phao, RSC: The Next Generation) as Mirko.

Writer Tobia Rossi comments, If today we're supposedly free to embrace our LGBTQ+ identities, why is it that we keep witnessing instances of homophobic violence? It's almost as if two different realities coexist in my country: an inclusive Italy where diversity is loudly embraced and celebrated, and a hidden country where being different is taboo. Hide and Seek is a dark fairy tale that explores these contradictions and their most extreme and terrifying consequences.

Director Carlotta Brentan says, Hide and Seek is a savage, topical rollercoaster of a play. Tobia Rossi's light touch, the humour and paradoxical innocence of his characters seduce us into opening our hearts to these heavy subjects. The questions Hide and Seek asks are far-reaching and necessary; the time to have these conversations is now.

Hide and Seek is kindly under the patronage of the Consulate General of Italy and the Italian Institute of Culture in London. The play won the 2019 Mario Fratti Award at In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY. In May 2022 Kairos Italy Theater and The Tank produced the worldwide premiere of the English translation at The Tank, New York, translated and directed by Carlotta Brentan.

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