“We live in a time where truth and lie merge to form our technology-fuelled reality; this anxious state is captured in Uboldi’s portrait of the fragile relationship between truth and self in Oedipus Rex” – STAR Radio, full review available here
“a spiralized, dystopian rendering of the play, [...] like a Black Mirror episode in the flesh”
“Uboldi has constructed a story that interweaves seamlessly through and upon itself, so full of careful details and structured levels”
Owl Eyes Magazine, full review available here
OEDIPUS REX
Byre Theatre, February 2020
written and directed by Gabriele Uboldi
funded by the University of St Andrews' Performing Arts Fund, with the support of the Centre for the Public Understanding of Greek and Roman Drama
Who is Oedipus? Following a mentally unstable hero who tries to piece together a narrative that is both his own story and an impersonal archetype, this unsettling take on Greek tragedy turns the original text into a modern-day tale about identity, memory, power, and politics. Featuring original music, sound, dance, and videography.
CALYPSO
written and directed by Phoebe Angeni
produced by Gabriele Uboldi
On The Rocks Festival, April 2019
where the land meets the sea and the waves kiss the sky // I believe in Strong Women
Performed at the edge of Castle Sands, Calypso is an eco-feminist exploration of liminal space. Ritualistic and otherworldly, the piece calls into question modern notions of femininity, selfhood, social and geographical displacement through fractured amalgamations of opera, devised movement, burlesque, and experimental poetry.
"Unique... Astonishing... Resplendent...
One of the best pieces of art I have seen in my 5 years at St Andrews"
— The Tribe
"It wasn't long before the audience was completely won over, providing gasps of mock horror when required. The writing was also well paced throughout the evening, woven smoothly into the meal itself and providing little twists to keep us guessing while saving the biggest revelations for the end"
The Saint, full review available here
DEATH
in the quad
College Hall, St Andrews
written and directed by Gabriele Uboldi
On The Rocks Festival, November 2018
You are invited to a formal dinner celebrating the publication of your friend's dissertation. All is well until, all of a sudden, one of the guests dies! Did someone poison his wine? Why?
Death in the Quad is an immersive, interactive, and semi-improvised murder mystery dinner taking place in College Hall, St Andrews, during a two-course served dinner.
UBU ROI
in a new version by Ryan Hay
directed by Gabriele Uboldi
Ma and Pa Ubu have been plotting for years, and they've finally pulled it off. They lied their way to the top and they're about to become actual royalty. But after their umpteenth orgy in the royal palace, will their repugnance and their pride come back to bite them?
Ubu Roi is the play that caused riots in the audiences of its early performances in Paris. It is an anarchic scatological satire on power and excess, innovatively presented through dance, film, text, and live music.
"A triumphant attempt to turn the 2400-year-old classic drama by Euripides into a funny, politically relevant piece of theatre that appeals to, and engages with, a modern audience"
"A wonderfully organic combination of the traditional dialogue between the characters, and the actors' hushed conflicts out of character, that does indeed capture the audience with both light-hearted jokes and serious intensity"
St.Art Magazine, full review available here
BACCHAE
written and directed by Gabriele Uboldi
St Andrews, November 2017
Edinburgh Fringe 2018
funded by the University of St Andrews'
Performing Arts Fund
Two visions. No director. Opening night.
Greece, 2400 years ago. When Pentheus, the King of Thebes, refuses to recognise Dionysus in his divinity, the god goes to the city to punish him. Or, this should be the plot, if the theatre company weren't arguing over how to stage the show on the night of the premiere.
An ensemble-based exploration of whether and how classical texts can be relevant today, featuring physical theatre elements, devised sequences, and choreographed dance.