Giorgio Strehler

Giorgio Strehler

Born: August 14, 1921
Died: December 25, 1997
in Barcola, Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Giorgio Strehler (14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an Italian stage director, theatre practitioner, actor and politician.

He was one of the most significant figures in Italian theatre during his lifetime, described by Mel Gussow as "the grand master of Italian theater" and "one of the world's boldest and most innovative directors." He co-founded Italy's first and most significant repertory company, the Piccolo Teatro of Milan, and the Union of the Theatres of Europe.

As a Socialist, Strehler served as Member of the European Parliament between 1984 and 1984, representing North-West Italy. He switched parties to the Independent Left, for which he was a Senator from 1987 for the 1992, representing Lombardy.

Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste; His father, Bruno Strehler, was a native of Trieste with family roots in Vienna and died when Giorgio was only three. His maternal grandfather, Olimpio Lovrich, subsequently became his father figure. Olimpio was one of the finest horn players of his day and the impresario of the Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi, Trieste's Opera House. When he was seven, his grandfather died and he moved to Milan with his mother and grandmother.

As a child, Giorgio was not impressed by theater. He found it "false" and decided it did not have the power to stir one's emotions as film did. His opinions changed one hot summer night while on his way to the cinema. He noticed a sign advertising the air-conditioning posted by the Odeon Theater. He walked in for some relief from the weather to see a performance of Carlo Goldoni's Una delle ultime sere di Carnevale being given by a company from Venice. He went every evening for the next few days to see more plays by Goldoni. Newly inspired by the theater, he applied and was accepted to the theater school Accademia dei Filodrammatici.

During the war he went into exile in Switzerland. With Geneva's Compagnie des Masques he directed the world premiere of Albert Camus's Caligula. After the war he became a theater critic for Milano Sera but he preferred making theater rather than writing about it. It was at this time that he started the Piccolo Teatro di Milano with Paolo Grassi. It opened on 17 May 1947 in the auditorium of the Broletto Cinema with Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths. A few days later they staged Carlo Goldoni's long forgotten Arlecchino: Servant of Two Masters commedia dell'arte, which would go on to become the longest running play in Italian theater. In that same year he also directed Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata at La Scala, the first of many opera productions he would direct.

Giorgio Strehler focused on theater that was culturally relevant. He did not want to "pay an abstract homage to culture" or "to offer a mere distraction... passive contemplation". Instead both Giorgio and Paolo agreed that theater was "a place where people gather to hear statements that they can accept or reject". ...

Source: Article "Giorgio Strehler" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Giorgio Strehler...

Strehler: Il mago dei prodigi
Title: Strehler: Il mago dei prodigi
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: December 18, 2017
Type: Movie
An eulogy to Giorgio Strehler, the first real director in the italian theatre. He was a master, knowing all aspects of the show, from the set techniques up to narrative influences. The documentary tells the personal life and the artistic career: it starts from that Christmas day in 1997, when the news broadcasts opened with the news of Strehler's death, to summarize the story of the Piccolo Teatro, the first municipal theatre in Italy.
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Title: Spécial cinéma
Character: Self
Released: September 25, 1974
Type: TV
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Der große Zauberer - Max Reinhardt
Title: Der große Zauberer - Max Reinhardt
Character: Self
Released: October 30, 1973
Type: Movie
"The Great Magician" - Max Reinhardt (1873-1943) was an Austrian theater and film director, director, theater producer and theater founder. With his Jedermann production on August 22, 1920, he founded the Salzburg Festival.
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Title: Le Grand Échiquier
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1972
Type: TV
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Giorgio Strehler. Il mestiere del teatro
Title: Giorgio Strehler. Il mestiere del teatro
Character: Self
Released: March 11, 1966
Type: Movie