calcio (italy 1- me 1)

Here in Rome, through a friend I was lucky enough to be invited a couple of times to join a game of 5-a-side calcio (a.k.a soccer, a.k.a football) played on a small AstroTurf pitch at a local club in the suburbs. Kicking the ball around with a team of Italians yelling at you in Italian and not really knowing what they were saying or what I was doing proved to be highly entertaining, and it was refreshing to get a taste of real Italy. My team lost the first match, however we won the second due no doubt to my incredible skills and coordination with a round ball. I’m sure if you asked my team mates they would all agree. I decided to retire from my illustrious Italian football career on a high but not before losing a couple of toenails and relinquishing my Adidas sponsorship after throwing out my shoes. The pain was short-lived once we hit the local communist club post-match for some cheap food, beer, wine and whatever else commies do at commie places.

piccolo teatro

For the last month, from the window of my apartment I, along with what appeared to be pedestrian traffic, have been witnessing what I thought was an ongoing neighborhood argument between the owner of a bar and a woman living in the apartment above complaining about the noise. After seeing the woman throw a bucket of water out the window several times over, it was becoming a little bit like groundhog day. I decided to venture down and investigate. It turns out I was watching the start of some Roman performance art – the bar is actually a little theatre, the onlookers the audience, and the woman and owner the characters in a play based on Don Juan and his conquests. Once I had established this I was instantly intrigued and a little bit scared. I bought a ticket.

The theatre named Piccolo Teatro Campo d’Arte, is located just off Campo dei Fiori in Via dei Cappellari. From the street it is just a door. After entering you descend via a narrow candle-lit staircase into an intricate network of World War 2 bunker-like spaces that could probably accommodate no more than 12 people each.

The play itself called Le Dissolute Assolte, was the most curious and interesting thing I have witnessed in Rome so far. The sets were intricate, the dialogue difficult to understand, the costumes burlesque, and the women extraordinary and beautiful. We were ushered through the story by our host and main character, Don Juan, via pitch-black tunnels joining the dimly-lit spaces together, in each of which a different woman waited for the audience to arrive. It was fascinating. The final scene took place in a tiny little bar and as the play was extremely intimate lending itself to interactivity, we all drank and played a role in the story. Once the play was over we applauded the actors and then they joined us for a drink and a review. I probably understood only twenty five percent of the dialogue but I think I go more out of the experience than anyone else, perhaps for that very reason.