1574. Venice in turmoil. Through calli and fondamenta, the news circulates: Henry III of Valois will spend a night in the Most Serene Republic.

Giulio Pasquati and Girolamo Salimbeni, a pair of charlatans and acrobats with stormy pasts, are tasked with putting on a show in honor of the prince.

Not just any story, certainly not, the greatest love story ever written: Romeo and Juliet.

Two hours to prepare to go on stage, to rehearse the show, but above all: where to find the right “Juliet,” chaste and pure, to dazzle Prince Henry?

And here appears in the campiello the voluptuous Veronica Franco, poetess and “honored courtesan” of the Republic, willing to tackle the improbable role of the untouched young girl.

We therefore witness an “open rehearsal,” in the manner of the comedians from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where the famous story of the Bard takes shape and distorts through the mixing of plots, dialects, songs, improvisations, sounds, duels, and pantomimes.

Shakespeare becomes, for us, a living matter to immerse our hands in, to bring to the stage, through popular theater, the great passions of mankind, in a dance between life and death, knives and poisons.

For information and reservations: Circolo Cultura e Stampa Bellunese tel. +39 0437 948911, e-mail info@ccsb.it, website https://circoloculturaestampabellunese.it

Not just any story, of course not, the greatest love story ever written: Romeo and Juliet. Two hours to prepare to go on stage, rehearse the show but, above all: where to find the right “Juliet,” chaste and pure, to showcase to Prince Henry?