One of the greatest masters of the theatre, Gabriele Lavia stars in and directs After the Rehearsal, Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece, originally made as a television film and presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984. At the heart of the work lies the human failure of a highly successful man who, without realising or intending to, has dragged other lives down with him in his own downfall.

An empty stage, suspended in an indefinite time. A long table for table-top rehearsals, surrounded by chairs arranged haphazardly, as if hastily abandoned. Beside it, a disorderly pile of furniture and props – a large swivelling mirror, a piano, a cradle, a school desk, a rag doll, an accordion and many music boxes – all hidden beneath a grey cloth.
At the head of the table, motionless, sits the director Vogler: an almost mummified figure, his head resting on the table amidst scripts, notebooks, a flask, cups and glasses. The atmosphere is that of a black-and-white photograph, suspended between memory and the present.
Out of this silence emerges Rakel, dressed in red, a sudden and unsettling presence, bursting in like an embodied memory or a ghost of desire. It is the beginning of an intimate and ruthless confrontation, in which reality and vision intertwine, bringing to light loves, regrets and failures.