It will be the stage of the LAC Lugano Art and Culture to welcome for the first time ever My stupid intentions, the new production signed by the company VicoQuartoMazziniThe event is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14th at 8:00 PM, with a repeat performance the following day at the same time.
The show is based on the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Bernardo Zannoni, winner of the Campiello Award in 2022. A debut work that attracted attention for its allegorical power and which is now being transposed into theatrical language, continuing the company's journey in reinterpreting contemporary narrative.
From novel to stage
After the success of The Ferocity, taken from the book by Nicola Lagioia and awarded with four awards at the Ubu Awards In 2024, VicoQuartoMazzini returns to tackle a complex literary text, choosing a path that favors transformation rather than fidelity.
The direction is entrusted to Michael Altamura e Gabriele Paolocà, who also sign the dramaturgy together with Linda DalisiOn stage, alongside the two directors, a cast that includes Giuseppe Cederna, Leonardo Capuano, Jonathan Lazzini and Arianna Scommegna.
The adaptation maintains the first-person narrative structure, while transporting the story into a scenic context capable of amplifying its symbolic meanings.
A parable between human and beast
At the center of the story is a marten, a creature who, having reached the end of its life, retraces its existence through the filter of memory. It's a journey that unfolds between language and consciousness, between the desire for knowledge and the awareness of one's own limitations.
The allegorical dimension emerges forcefully in the juxtaposition between animal and human: a blurred boundary, traversed by universal questions. Time, death, memory, and the need for meaning become the central themes of a narrative that directly questions the viewer.
Writing, a founding element of the novel, is here reworked as a scenic device: an instrument of salvation and at the same time of crisis, capable of transforming both the narrator and the listener.
Why an adaptation?
In the authors' words, the theatrical undertaking represents an inevitable challenge: transposing a text means betraying it, modifying it, inserting it into a new expressive environment. In this transition, the story takes on new resonances, shifting toward a contemporary world marked by anxiety and questioning.
The story of the marten thus becomes a broader metaphor: the often unsuccessful attempt to transcend one's own nature. A tension that runs through both the animal and human worlds, suggesting a possible return to the essential.
Production and touring
The show is produced by LAC in collaboration with various Italian theatres, including Scarti Center for the Production of Theater Innovation, Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Theater of Europe, Stabile Theater of Umbria and National Theater of Genoa.
After the Lugano debut, My stupid intentions will continue its tour in Italy, touching Sarzana, Genoa and Pordenone, and then extending into the 2026/27 season.
VicoQuartoMazzini and the public: meetings and conversations
Alongside the performances, the LAC is offering two in-depth sessions open to the public. The first, scheduled for the end of the evening of April 14th, will feature Bernardo Zannoni in conversation with Carmelo Rifici and the directors of the show.
The second event, scheduled for April 15th at 18pm, will offer a direct comparison with the VicoQuartoMazzini company, moderated by Carmelo Rifici together with the theatre critic Graziano Graziani.
