The show “Shakespeare al Bekka” presented at Teatro Puntozero Beccaria on 29 November 2025 was the result of a workshop held in collaboration with Puntozero’s director, Giuseppe Scutellà, and Lisa Mazoni. The workshop took place at Milan’s Juvenile Detention Centre, “Cesare Beccaria”, and brought together thirty university students from the Departments of Literatures and Languages and Law, as well as young men serving sentences in a community centre, young men in detention and young professional actors from Puntozero.
Throughout November 2025, participants met at either Teatro Puntozero Beccaria or in a dedicated room inside the centre. Guided by director Giuseppe Scutellà, dramaturg Maggie Rose, professor of British Theatre Mariacristina Cavecchi, with contributions from law scholars Letizia Mancini, Luigi Cominelli, and Lucio Camaldo, Professor of the History of Opera and Music Philology Claudio Toscani, and Cristina Puricelli (Mobile Functional Centre, Brera Botanical Garden and Herbarium, University of Milan), the group critically analysed and rewrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Together, they explored themes such as justice, obedience, freedom and law, and simulated the procedure of a real-life trial in Italy in 2025. They re-imagined Helena, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrious as modern teenagers brought before the court for breaching parental authority and unauthorised departure from the family residence.
