Aida Rocci on staging Cristina Comencini’s Two Rounds to London

Up-and-coming director Aida Rocci, currently a Creative Associate at Jermyn Street Theatre and one-half of Aslant Theatre, is helming the UK Premiere of Oscar-nominee Cristina Comencini’s Two Rounds. Described as ‘a searing comedy of Italian history, feminism, and intergenerational family drama’, this is a show born outside the traditional anglocentric canon. Not only directing but also translating the original text, much rides on Rocci’s young, but creatively ambitious shoulders. I was lucky enough to ask a few questions before the Jermyn Street Theatre curtain rises on the 7th February 2023.

Aida, in translating Two Rounds” for an English-speaking audience, what aspects of the play did you find most challenging to convey without losing the essence of Comencini’s original script?

One of the most beautiful and compelling aspects of the original script is the balance between comedy and intimacy. Comedy is very hard to translate, mainly because a lot of it stems from references and cultural recognition. What is more, comedy depends on rhythm and Romance languages and English have radically different rhythms, which kept me on my toes throughout the whole process. When translating, it was very easy to be lulled by the Italian rhythm and poetry, and then the play would feel “accurate” but inevitably fall a bit flat in English. It took a lot of thinking, revisions, readings and a lot of help from co-translators, Tessa Nelson and Paul Hilliar, to get the rhythm right for an English audience, while keeping a bit of the Italian feeling. That said, one of the exciting things about theatre is that the text truly only exists in the context of performance, which means nothing is real until an actor embodies it. As a director, I now get the chance to keep refining this balance with the cast, finding the intimacy, lightness, comedy, and Italian essence together on stage. I feel extremely fortunate I get to direct the words I loved to translate.

As a Spanish theatre artist based in London, how do your cultural influences shape your approach to translating and directing plays, especially one deeply rooted in Italian history and culture like Two Rounds?

My relationship with my cultural identity has always been quite complex. Growing up in Spain, I was always singled out as “the Italian” girl. And yet, I knew and deeply felt I was not “really” Italian, which fostered in me an obsession with understanding what ‘being Italian’ meant. Leaving Spain to live abroad then had an interesting effect. Trying to live in a new culture changes who you are as you adapt – but it also deepens your sense of your original cultural identity. So you start living in the intersection of all the cultures within you. Because of this, I have developed a keen interest in the concept of belonging – a nearly impossible yet fundamental human desire.

The arts have the power to make us care for humans no matter their background, across cultural boundaries, and theatre thrives in that liminal space. In theatre things are and aren’t simultaneous, identity and time stretch, space blurs. So, when I’m creating theatre, I try to tune into that special quality of theatricality to foster belonging. And for that, I use all the tools I’ve gathered in the years I’ve been living across cultures.

Your education seemed to be headed towards business management, until a fateful summer school at Harvard. As someone who’s made that transition, how do you view the business of theatre just now? Is it sustainable in the current economic/political climate?

I have to say. I’m very impressed you know that about me! I think freelance directors have a very limited vantage point from which to observe the business of theatre, as we do not control the means of production; we are tangential to them. So this is definitely a question that venues and producers can answer with better evidence than me. However, lately, I’ve been pondering about theatre’s sustainability, not in financial terms (it doesn’t take a PhD to know theatre is not the safest of investments), but in terms of labour. 

Theatre will continue to exist even if it’s a ruinous enterprise for the same reason I stopped studying business management and ended up working in theatre: we love it in an inescapable way. People will continue to gravitate towards art, theatre, and performance outside of economic models and logical reasoning because of a primal need for it. If we take that as a given circumstance, the question remains of how we can create an industry that takes that influx of talented, committed people and makes it sustainable for them to grow. In parts of mainland Europe, they have repertory systems that nurture and sustain their talent in their careers. In the UK, there was a very strong support system that created a creative industry that became world-known. The question is whether the current political climate is really supporting the new talent in this country to participate in its excellent arts heritage. And, seeing how many people are forced to drop their theatre careers to be able to secure their livelihood, I worry about what the UK holds for its theatre creatives. 

Two Rounds has been a phenomenon in Italy for years. Has there been a specific moment during the translation or production process that stands out to you, where you felt the cultural resonance of the play bridging the gap between Italian and English-speaking audiences?

Oh yes! I’ve spent a long time with this play so there are many meaningful moments of connection during the process of translating. But there was one when that stands out because that’s when I knew that the play would work well on a UK stage. It was the first time I got a group of actors to read the script out loud. With some help from friends and online theatre networks, I got a group of people together from many different parts of the world – Scotland, Norway, Singapore, and England. We did a very intimate reading in a cafe near my house. It was candle-lit and we took over a little cozy corner. When we were done, it felt like something had happened. The women chatted about how it reminded them of their mothers, their sisters, their cultures. I knew that there was something special about the script that could resonate across cultures and that my job was to make sure nothing got in the way of the magic of the script.

Being part of Aslant Theatre, which is dedicated to voicing stories of underrepresented women, does Two Rounds contribute to this mission?

When I started researching Two Rounds, I came across the work of Gabriella Parca, an Italian journalist and feminist who caused quite a stir in the 60s. She published a book with the rejected letters that women were sending to magazines asking for advice. They were pleas for help in which they shared their very present worries about issues of love, sexual pressure from their partners, forbidden love, pregnancy… and what was heartbreaking was that those very legitimate questions were never answered because they were positioned against the image of the ideal mid-century Italian woman. Women had no voice or option to get it. The conversations that we see in Two Rounds, especially in the first act which takes place in the 60s, are an act of rebellion: women daring to discuss what is taboo, sharing their perspectives, and creating a network of support.

Antonia and I at Aslant Theatre were immediately drawn to the script because it not only features strong women and the nuances of their experiences but also because the script itself champions the female perspective in its language, structure, and theatricality. As more and more of these “aslant” perspectives are put to the forefront of the arts, theatre will be redefined and expanded.

Having co-founded ‘Punkt Collective and worked on various productions, how do you see the role of independent theatre companies in shaping the cultural landscape, and what challenges and opportunities do they face in bringing diverse and underrepresented stories to the stage?

The strength of the UK theatre lies in the independent theatre companies, powered by the passion and bold ideas of new generations of artists. Very few countries have such a wealth of companies and such curious audiences. Independent theatre companies face many challenges, though. First, in the way they get started. Most of these companies are founded in universities. However, that’s in itself a barrier to entry for diversity, both in terms of economic diversity but also cultural diversity. I think a truly healthy landscape would have more spaces for meetings and casual collaboration. NDT Broadgate was an amazing initiative, and I think we could go even further. But for that ideal to work, the economic aspects of theatre-making have to become more favourable. Successful theatre companies are dismantling in today’s economic climate, so we have to look at how we nurture and protect the bold, passionate artists who really want to make work together. 

Two Rounds will play the Jermyn Street Theatre, London from the 7th to 10th February 2024. For tickets, and more information, click here.