Forever

Giovanni Testori / Alessandro Bandini

Prelazione

1 hour 10 minutes

Prelazione membri LAC+ dall’1 dicembre.
Vendita aperta a tutti dall’8 dicembre.

Teatro Foce

CHF 25

Fri 09.04

20:00

Sat 10.04

20:00

World premiere

22.10.2025

LAC Lugano

Tournée

12–13.03.2027

Sala LAC – LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura

26–28.02.2027

Casa del Contemporaneo - Napoli, Italia

20.02.2027

Il Funaro - Pistoia, Italia

19.02.2027

Teatro Giuditta Pasta - Saronno (VA), Italia

13.02.2027

Teatro di Ragazzola - Roccabianca (PR), Italia

19.01.2027

Teatro Sociale - Como, Italia

16.01.2027

Cantiere Florida - Firenze, Italia

14–15.01.2027

Teatro delle Maddalene - Padova, Italia

18.12.2026

Teatro Donnafugata - Ragusa, Italia

09–11.12.2026

Teatro di Gradisca d’Isonzo (GO), Italia

01–06.12.2026

Teatro Gobetti / Teatro Nazionale di Torino, Italia

28–29.11.2026

Teatro della Contrada – Trieste, Italia

17–22.11.2026

Teatro Studio Melato – Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Italia

05–08.11.2026

Spazio Diamante – Roma, Italia

10.09.2026

FUME Festival - Cesena, Italia

26.08.2026

Ginesio Fest - San Ginesio (MC), Italia

22–23.08.2026

Festival di Narrazione di Arzo

02.07.2026

Festival INequilibrio / Teatro Nardini - Rosignano (LI), Italia

02.07.2026

Festival Inequilibrio – Castiglioncello, Italia

09.05.2026

Festival Bonsai – Ferrara Off, Italia

08.05.2026

Teatro Comunale di Carpi, Italia

19–22.02.2026

Teatro di Villa Torlonia/TdR – Roma, Italia

15.01.2026

Istituto Italiano di Cultura – Parigi, Francia

07–11.01.2026

Teatro Mezzadri/CTB – Brescia, Italia

09–11.12.2025

Teatro della Tosse – Genova, Italia

02–07.12.2025

Teatro Studio Melato – Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Italia

21–30.11.2025

Teatro delle Moline/ERT – Bologna, Italia

Forever

Giovanni Testori / Alessandro Bandini

Prelazione

1 hour 10 minutes

Prelazione membri LAC+ dall’1 dicembre.
Vendita aperta a tutti dall’8 dicembre.

Teatro Foce

CHF 25

Fri 09.04

20:00

Sat 10.04

20:00

World premiere

22.10.2025

LAC Lugano

Tournée

12–13.03.2027

Sala LAC – LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura

26–28.02.2027

Casa del Contemporaneo - Napoli, Italia

20.02.2027

Il Funaro - Pistoia, Italia

19.02.2027

Teatro Giuditta Pasta - Saronno (VA), Italia

13.02.2027

Teatro di Ragazzola - Roccabianca (PR), Italia

19.01.2027

Teatro Sociale - Como, Italia

16.01.2027

Cantiere Florida - Firenze, Italia

14–15.01.2027

Teatro delle Maddalene - Padova, Italia

18.12.2026

Teatro Donnafugata - Ragusa, Italia

09–11.12.2026

Teatro di Gradisca d’Isonzo (GO), Italia

01–06.12.2026

Teatro Gobetti / Teatro Nazionale di Torino, Italia

28–29.11.2026

Teatro della Contrada – Trieste, Italia

17–22.11.2026

Teatro Studio Melato – Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Italia

05–08.11.2026

Spazio Diamante – Roma, Italia

10.09.2026

FUME Festival - Cesena, Italia

26.08.2026

Ginesio Fest - San Ginesio (MC), Italia

22–23.08.2026

Festival di Narrazione di Arzo

02.07.2026

Festival INequilibrio / Teatro Nardini - Rosignano (LI), Italia

02.07.2026

Festival Inequilibrio – Castiglioncello, Italia

09.05.2026

Festival Bonsai – Ferrara Off, Italia

08.05.2026

Teatro Comunale di Carpi, Italia

19–22.02.2026

Teatro di Villa Torlonia/TdR – Roma, Italia

15.01.2026

Istituto Italiano di Cultura – Parigi, Francia

07–11.01.2026

Teatro Mezzadri/CTB – Brescia, Italia

09–11.12.2025

Teatro della Tosse – Genova, Italia

02–07.12.2025

Teatro Studio Melato – Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Italia

21–30.11.2025

Teatro delle Moline/ERT – Bologna, Italia

Alessandro Bandini, the recent winner of the Mariangela Melato Award for young actors, brings to life the poignant and mysterious love story between the Italian writer, playwright, director, and painter Giovanni Testori and Alain Toubas. *Per sempre* is a play about the need to feel loved unconditionally and about pain—a visceral plea to be able to love, a cry not to be forgotten.

Between 1959 and 1962, Testori and his beloved Toubas —whom he met in late 1958 through mutual friends—maintained an intense correspondence consisting of over two thousand handwritten letters in French, which have never been translated, transcribed, or published, as well as drawings and postcards that are equally unpublished. This extensive correspondence reveals a sweeping, at times manipulative love, and a disarming humanity, showcasing a little-known side of the intellectual from Novate Milanese and offering the opportunity to reexamine part of his body of work with a fresh, original, and contemporary perspective.
Bandini engages with the private and poetic voice of Testori—a leading figure in the literary and artistic culture of the second half of the twentieth century—crafting an original play based on a previously unpublished collection of letters and postcards, from selected verses of *I Trionfi*—the famous love poem that opens the poetic trilogy dedicated to Alain Toubas—and from the writer’s private dedications to the young “Franzese.”
The result of a series of artistic residencies, including one at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris—the city where Testori and Toubas first met on February 24, 1959— *Per sempre* arises from a total, head-on confrontation with Testori’s words: words that, by becoming embodied in the speaker, transform into the endless struggle of a human being facing his own fears.

texts taken from 

Unpublished letters and postcards from Giovanni Testori to Alain Toubas
I Trionfi by Giovanni Testori
private dedications by Giovanni Testori to Alain Toubas

Concept and creation 

Alessandro Bandini  

dramaturgy and translation

Alessandro Bandini, Ugo Fiore

with

Alessandro Bandini 

external view 

Alessandro Sciarroni  

coaching 

Tindaro Granata  

stage design consulting

Giulia Pastore

lighting design 

Elena Vastano

styling 

Ettore Lombardi  

music consulting

Federica Furlani

lighting, audio, and video technician

Alessandro Di Fraia

production

LAC Lugano Art and Culture  

in co-production with 

Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa,
CTB Centro Teatrale Bresciano,
Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT / Teatro Nazionale 

in collaboration with 

Casa Testori,
Italian Cultural Institute in Paris,
La Corte Ospitale in Rubiera  

with the support of 

Inteatro Residenze,
Armunia Foundation