Italian playwright Tobia Rossi’s dark coming-of-age story Hide and Seek will have its UK debut at  VAULT Festival in February. This darkly entertaining play delves into bullying and homophobia,  following Gio and Mirko on an unflinching and unexpected journey to self-acceptance, with  dramatic consequences.  

From Zava Productions, this moving play looks at the dangerous power of social media and how  vulnerable young minds can be to loud, discriminatory voices around them. Set in a small town  in Italy, Gio runs away and hides in a cave, desperate to escape his reality, where he doesn’t feel  accepted by family, teachers or peers. When his popular classmate Mirko accidentally finds  him, Gio enlists him as an accomplice and the rival teenagers embark on a journey of discovery  with dark consequences.  

In a society where we are encouraged to be ourselves, but ‘ourselves’ are often not accepted  when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity, Hide and Seek explores the devastating  impact of homophobia on young people. This brutal, funny and compelling play offers a fresh  perspective, placing the point of view with the teenage protagonists, closely examining the dark  and deadly consequences of being raised in a close-minded community.  

Hide and Seek stars Issam Al Ghussain (Macbeth and King Lear, The Globe; The Beaker Girls,  BBC) as Gio and Nico Cetrulo (Confusions, ArtsEd; The Merchant of Venice and Sapho & Phao,  RSC: The Next Generation) as Mirko.  

Writer Tobia Rossi comments, If today we’re supposedly free to embrace our LGBTQ+ identities,  why is it that we keep witnessing instances of homophobic violence? It’s almost as if two  different realities coexist in my country: an inclusive Italy where diversity is loudly embraced and celebrated, and a hidden country where being different is taboo. Hide and Seek is a dark fairy  tale that explores these contradictions and their most extreme and terrifying consequences. 

Director Carlotta Brentan says, Hide and Seek is a savage, topical rollercoaster of a play. Tobia  Rossi’s light touch, the humour and paradoxical innocence of his characters seduce us into  opening our hearts to these heavy subjects. The questions Hide and Seek asks are far-reaching  and necessary; the time to have these conversations is now. 

Tickets Tickets are available from www.vaultfestival.com/events/hide-and seek/

 

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