From kindergarten cries, questions in high school, to graduation announcements. Filippo Caccamo he poked fun at every level of school in Italy, first with social content, then with theatrical performances, becoming a (comic) point of reference for the country’s teachers: “Sometimes they write to me ‘Tomorrow I have an oral exam for the competition, please let me be blessed…’“, he told Adnkronos. Now he is ready to get out of his ‘comfort zone’ and propose to his audience a different theme that is very dear to him, art history.
After the first date in Montecatini’Off canvas‘, that’s the name of his new show, comes to the Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber in Milan on November 13, 14 and 15 and then continues, until the end of May, throughout Italy. The idea is to take the audience on a guided tour of a museum where works of art that have made history become a narrative pretext for embracing topics that touch the lives of each of us, reinterpreted in a humorous way. “Art history is explained in a very institutional way, often distant or incomprehensible. You have to find a way to tell the story, find as many points of contact as possible between the work and the lives of the people you’re talking to. It’s not a direct theme but the points of contact are there,” he said.
Graduated in Cultural Heritage Studies and Art History and Criticism in Milan, Caccamo wanted to take up the challenge of bringing Giotto, Caravaggio and Lucio Fontana to the stage. Of course, it is with a lightness that sets it apart: the paintings act as a narrative thread throughout the 90-minute show, but remain in the background. “I believe that disclosure is a new frontier in the world of entertainment. I’m a big fan of colleagues like ‘The physics we love’ (Vincenzo Schettini ed.) and Barbascura X, but I’m really a comedian, I don’t feel like a popularizer. In my case, art history is a pretext for comedy.”
However, the world of school does not just disappear: Caccamo guides the audience as if they were students just getting off the bus for an educational trip and there is no shortage of references that are well-loved by the teachers who have followed him for years on social media, where today (between Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok) he has two and a half million followers. “It all started by chance. I started teaching during Covid, then soon became a father, and I understand that this category of teachers deserves to be informedAnd so, Caccamo recalls, the ironic video began. “I’m happy with this success, but obviously I didn’t imagine this response. Apparently this is the right time”, he said. From there, the development only increased: not only did the number of people on social media increase rapidly, but also TV (‘Zelig Lab’, ‘Eccezionale Veramente’, ‘Colorado TV’, ‘LOL Talent Show’ and ‘Comedy Match’), books (he wrote ‘Be calm – Agi e disagi di un un university student’ and ‘Cursed is the first hour. Diary of a replacement teacher’) and theater.
“The web – he explains – is very fast but also more accurate than it seems. It’s a fast mechanism, but it sticks with you. But what’s certain is the real challenge is convincing users to switch from 90 seconds on a smartphone to 90 minutes live and what is certain is that those present in person are the audience that I like to develop with excellence. I love being with the public, even in the theater I go down to the audience and, from the response, it seems to be one of the funniest moments.” This is why the show “is not a long video, but rather a comic monologue” in which characters or sketches known on social media also appear from time to time but “the idea is to do something completely different on stage” because the theatrical experience “must give something more” than what appears from a reel. (by Corinna Spirito)
