Cabaret Voltaire
by Romeo Gasparini
staged reading directed by Massimiliano Zampetti
with Igor Horvat and Giovanni Palazzo
Past event
05 May 2026
Teatrostudio
1917. In Zurich, the heart of the only neutral country hovering above the abyss of the Great War, everything seems at a standstill. Yet, beneath the surface, two opposing forces are about to change the course of the century. At the Cabaret Voltaire, amidst artists, dissidents and deserters, the paths of Tristan Tzara and Vladimir Lenin briefly cross.
One believes in the explosive power of the artistic gesture, in provocation and paradox as tools to shatter reality; the other in the discipline of political action, in strategy and violence as the driving force of change.
Over the course of a feverish night, amid irony, despondency and grandiose visions of the future, an intimate and unexpected dialogue emerges. It is not merely a confrontation between art and politics, but between two different ideas of revolution.
The stage thus becomes a mirror of the present: what does it mean today to perform a truly revolutionary act? And what power can poetry still wield in the face of the bloody machinery of History?
Born in Lugano in 1999, he trained in performing arts at NABA in Milan and in opera directing at the Verona Conservatory. He has worked as an assistant director in Italian and international theatres, collaborating with leading directors.
In 2022, he founded Studio MIRA, a Ticino-based theatre company for under-35s, with which he directed two plays, making his debut during the season at the LAC in Lugano and the Teatro Carcano in Milan.
He studied acting in Milan at the Studio Laboratorio dell’Attore. He continued his training with Coco Leonardi. Since 1993, he has collaborated with Luca Spadaro, founding Teatro d’Emergenza. Over the years, they have produced more than thirty shows. He has worked for various theatre companies in Italian-speaking Switzerland, including V XX ZWEETZ, Cambusa Teatro, Compagnia Tommaso Giacopini and Compagnia MAT. With the LAC, he starred in The Taming of the Shrew and La bottega del caffè, directed by Andrea Chiodi and Igor Horvat respectively. For the Teatro Sociale in Bellinzona, he appeared in Tell and Qivittoq, directed by Flavio Stroppini. In film, he has worked with directors including Eric Bernasconi, Rolando Colla, Fabio Pellegrinelli and Klaudia Reynicke. He has collaborated extensively with local organisations, including the Mendrisio Art Museum, the Vincenzo Vela Museum, Luminanza, Fabiano Alborghetti, the Music in Mendrisiotto Association and Ticino Musica. For Rete Due, he is a reader, actor, writer and director of radio plays. He is the founder of the ExNovo Cultural Association.
