I Topi Non Avevano Nipoti
Written and directed by Luca Romani

I Topi Non Avevano Nipoti offers a new perspective on Italian culture and the migrant narrative. A collection of 8 interconnected stories, performed by three actors who seamlessly shift between roles, in the tradition of classical theatre. The play explores themes of sterility and redundancy. Like a palindrome, it lacks a clear beginning or end. Characters’ communication is often indirect and manipulative, resulting in a comically ineffective exchange. True, direct communication occurs only in soliloquies, where characters reveal their vulnerabilities and follies.

This work was performed in Italian as part of LaMama’s Festival of Mother Tongues in November 2024 at CO.AS.IT (Museo Italiano).

Thank you to our generous artists: Rosa Nix, Nores Cerfeda, Susie Paternò
Assistant Director: Alistair Ward

Artwork by Meii Wang
Photos by Darren Gill

‘Audaciously probing the simultaniously sustaining and stifling nature of received familial and cultural norms’

‘One of the strengths of the script lies in the oscillation between levity and stark solemnity’

- Monica Sestito