Thesis project 

2022

"H - Cirque du Soleil: when the show aims to raise awareness" is the name of my thesis project and was one of my greatest efforts.

 "H" is a show inspired by some writings about the relationship between disability and photography, for this project I was in charge of direction, set design and costumes, trying to propose my own artistic vision capable of awakening the viewer's perception of the word "different."

The show has been divided into 4 basic scenes, based on the 4 visual rhetorics of Dr. Rosemarie Garland Thomson, who throughout her career has investigated the different ways in which able-bodied humans behave in front of photos of people with disabilities.

Four scenes (or pictures) were thus born: Il meraviglioso, L'esotico, Il sentimentale ed Il realistico, different situations in which the viewer can observe Cirque du Soleil artists and disabled athletes working together in a moment of total inclusion.

The theater in which the show is set, The Han Show Theatre in China, is the largest theater for circus arts in the world. The biggest challenge was to create a set design that would enhance the technical capabilities of the theater itself:
- 3 mechanical arms of various extension and mobility
- platforms of different levels in the center of the stage
- a pool hidden under the stalls that is revealed when the stalls itself is shifted.

During this scene the opening of the stalls takes place and the focus shifts to the pool.

From the beginning of the design, several problems were faced, mainly related to the structural impressiveness of the proposed ideas, but these were solved through intensive research related to technique and mechanics.
It is a diverse and innovative project that weaves a delicate concept with complex stage demands.

Here some technical drawings.