Teatro Due, Rationalist theatre in Parma, Italy.
Teatro Due is a theatre housed in a former public bathhouse built in 1902 on Viale Basetti, facing the Lungoparma in Parma. The building later served as the seat of the Opera nazionale per il dopolavoro and from 1936 housed a cinema. Since 1970 it has been occupied by the Compagnia del Collettivo, which became the city's permanent theatre company. A 2011 restoration added a 780-seat amphitheatre, Piazza Shakespeare, behind the main structure.
Built in 1902 as a public bathhouse on Viale Basetti, the building later housed the Opera nazionale per il dopolavoro and from 1936 a cinema. In 1970 the Compagnia del Collettivo, formed in 1971 under director Bogdan Jerkovic, occupied it. The 1980 convention with the City of Parma made it Italy's first public-private partnership in prose theatre; in 1983 the ministry recognised it as a teatro stabile di produzione.
The company has staged Peter Weiss's play "L'istruttoria" (The Investigation) continuously since 1984, directed by Gigi Dall'Aglio, an actor and director of the troupe who died in 2020. Since 2020 the theatre has run the "Mezz'ore d'Autore" competition for contemporary Italian playwriting, with selected texts performed as a marathon.
The building sits in a central location with easy access and offers performances regularly throughout the year across multiple indoor spaces. It helps to check ahead for current programming to find shows that match your interests.
An outdoor amphitheater on Piazza Shakespeare was completed in 2011, creating an unexpected performance space under open sky. This addition shows how the venue extends beyond traditional indoor theaters to deepen its connection with the surrounding city.
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