Compagnia Teatrale I Magazzini is a Theatre Group founded in 1972 by Federico Tiezzi, Sandro Lombardi and Marion d’Amburgo.
Today one of Italy’s most important groups dedicated to research and Italian avant-garde theatre, the company made its debut under the name Il Carrozzone with Morte di Francesco (“The Death of Francesco”) and La donna stanca incontra il sole (“The tired woman meets the sun”) (both in 1973), which were followed by other pieces with a strong visual impact, such as Viaggio e morte per acqua oscura (“Voyage and death in murky waters”) (1974), Tactus (Opera) (1974), Presagi del Vampiro (“The Vampire’s Prophecies”) (Studi per ambiente) (1976).
Later re-named Magazzini Criminali, the company produced a number of works, including the original theatre / cinema / music fusions – Punto di rottura – due studi un film (“Breaking point – two studies, one film”) (1979), Crollo nervoso (“Nervous Breakdown”) (1980, with music by Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Brion Gysin and Billie Holiday), Ebdòmero (1979) and Ebdòmero 2 (1980, with music by Eno, David Byrne and Jon Hassell) – before turning to an ambitious and highly unusual poetical theatre series which started with Sulla strada (“On the Road”) (1982, after Jack Kerouac with music by Jon Hassell and mixed by Michael Brook), Genet a Tangeri (“Genet in Tangiers”) (1984), Tragedia barbara (“Barbaric tragedy”) (Ubu Prize, 1984) before changing its name to Compagnia Teatrale I Magazzini in Vita immaginaria di Paolo Uccello (“The Imaginary Life of Paolo Uccello”) (1985) and Artaud. Una tragedia (“Artaud. A Tragedy”) (1987).
Other performances by the group include Samuel Beckett’s How It Is (1987, adapted and dramatized by Ubu Prizewinner Franco Quadri) and Endgame (1992), the three Cantiche della Commedia dantesca (“Canticas from Dantesque Comedy”) re-interpreted by Edoardo Sanguineti, Mario Luzi and Giovanni Giudici (1988-1991), Medeamaterial e Hamletmaschine (1989) by Heiner Müller, Alessandro Manzoni’s Adelchi (1992), Edipus (“Oedipus”) (1994), Cleopatràs (1996), Due lai (1998) and L’Amleto (“Hamlet”) (2001) by Giovanni Testori, Bertolt Brecht’s Nella giungla delle città (“In the Jungle of the Cities”) (1997) and Antigone di Sofocle (“Antigone”) (2004), Scene di Amleto – Secondo sogno da Shakespeare (“Scenes from Hamlet – Shakespeare’s Second Dream”) (1999), L’apparenza inganna (“Appearances are Deceiving”) (2000) by Thomas Bernhard, two one-act plays, In fondo a destra (“Last on the Right”) and I danni del tabacco (“On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco”) (2003), by Raffaello Baldini and Anton Cechov respectively, Viaggio terrestre e celeste di Simone Martini (“The Earthly and Celestial Travels of Simone Martini”) (2004) by Luzi and Gli uccelli di Aristofane (“The Birds”, by Aristophanes) (2006, Ubu Prize for the best play and the best director).