In the Moon’s Circle. Fragments from Orlando Furioso

Why choose Orlando Furioso as the starting point for a theatre workshop? Perhaps a rhetorical question. For the same reason that masterpieces always prompt rewritings and digressions. They are embraced in the archetypal power of their inventions, their imaginary worlds, their symbolic richness. And in all these respects, Ariosto’s major work knows no rival—so much so that it has often been adapted for the stage (most notably, Luca Ronconi’s unforgettable production in 1969).

What stands out amid this proliferation of fantastic tales is an element that emerged as especially apt for sparking creative overlaps with the material explored in a workshop involving students from our University: the force of desire that drives every character in the poem. An almost obsessive impulse, which the protagonist Orlando directs entirely towards the beautiful Angelica. Yet he is not alone—many knights pursue her, chasing after a dream of love that is always just out of reach. And many others chase different, ever-shifting dreams.

Because perhaps, in the end, there is only one dream—shared by all. A dream of happiness, of fulfilment: the possibility of finding one’s place in the world and holding on to it, despite everything and everyone. And what if Orlando were the only truly lucid character in a world gone completely mad?

After all, Ariosto himself hinted at such a resolution: everything that is lost ends up on the moon—everything, that is, except madness. "Only madness is not there, great or small; / It stays down here, and does not leave at all."

To reach Angelica, then, we must first retrieve the world’s sanity—climb up to the moon, or perhaps bring it down to earth—and help this world come to its senses again, calm it, and return light to the many eyes clouded by fear.

The infectious energy of these students has tried to do just that—and did so every evening, through a simple theatre workshop, building up to the final performance we are now proud to share with the public.

After all, the moon is not so far away. 

The workshop is led by Nicola Bonazzi

Nicola Bonazzi, a professor of Italian theatrical literature and co-artistic director of Teatro dell’Argine Company, is a dramaturg and director. His theatrical works include Liberata (2006), Eden (2009), Casa del Popolo (2017), and Da grande voglio fare l’aggettivo (2023). Over the years, he has curated educational and socially impactful theatre projects such as Futuri Maestri (2017) and Politico Poetico, still ongoing. He has extensive experience in theatre education.

In collaboration with