Modern masquerade
Mummenschanz explores human communication without words
Inside Floriana Frassetto’s mind, there’s a whimsical world.
Ideas pop into her head, and she works relentlessly to translate the images to the stage. It’s been this way for the Italian-born performer for more than 40 years.
Frassetto started Mummenschanz as a trio in 1972.
With its timely alternative to the traditional, storytelling Pierrot Lunaire, the poetic white clown, or to the highly developed, narrative pantomime with the white face, the fictitious forces and objects or the classic, expressive free dance, the then-Mummenschanz trio continued with — and maybe even thanks to — the constant inner imbalance of the formation, a brand-new sign with groundbreaking techniques of modern masquerade.
In more than 10 years of creative experimentation and research in all sorts of theaters in Germany and abroad, accompanied by a passionate joy of playing, including a three-year Broadway guest performance, the theater group reached the threshold to the stages of the big, wide world.
The company’s latest creation, “you & me” is currently traveling across the country.
The performance features characters of different shapes and sizes as it explores the theme of human communication without uttering a word.
“The new show is magic, poetic and a very visual show,” she says. “There’s very little sound. I’ve created two sketches.”
One of those consists of a violin and a viola, which are in a love dispute.
“The music sounds like a conversation,” she says. “Our stories are simple and taken from everyday life. They are comic and a little ironic.”
It took Frassetto five months to complete the current show.
“I worked practically day and night,” she says. “It would usually take a year to complete, but they were already setting the show. There was a hard deadline I had to meet. I worked with two colleagues in Switzerland to finish the show. We’ve been on tour since, and it’s been amazing.”
Frassetto is looking forward to performing in Albuquerque.
“It’s one of my favorite places to go,” she says. “When I was about 15 or 16, my parents and I would fly to New Mexico. My mom owned a Native American goods store in Italy. We’d fly out there so she could buy inventory to sell. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world.”