category: cultural project
edition: 2010

In 2010 Naples was, with Udine, one of the two Italian seats of the international higher education program in Theatre “École des Maitres” that involved Italy, France, Belgium, and Portugal. 

The Scottish director Matthew Lenton, a representative of the new directorial scene in Europe, directed the works. Lenton had participated in the second iteration of Napoli Teatro Festival Italia with his show Interiors, produced by Fondazione Campania dei Festival in collaboration with British institutions. 

The École des Maîtres was born in 1990 from an idea of Peter Stein. The German director envisioned a theatre workshop for students and directors from different countries, to be divided in sessions and held in each of the participating countries. Conceived and directed by Franco Quadri, the École des Maîtres is an international advanced professional training school for young graduates from Europe’s theatre schools, who are offered a chance to work with the most important and innovative contemporary directors. The itinerant project takes place annually in a different country, from Italy, France, Belgium, and Portugal. 

The École’s directors have included Luca Ronconi, Lev Dodin, Peter Stein, Dario Fo, Jerzy Grotowski, Anatolij Vassil’ev, Alfredo Arias, Matthias Langhoff, Eimuntas Nekrosius, Massimo Castri, Jean Louis Martinelli and, more recently, prominent young directors including Jan Fabre, Rodrigo Garcia, Pippo Delbono, Antonio Latella, Carlo Cecchi, Denis Marleau, and Enrique Diaz.