TPO is based in Prato (Italy) at Teatro Fabbrichino and works as a company in residence at Teatro Metastasio Stabile della Toscana. The group, directed by Davide Venturini and Francesco Gandi, creates interactive shows interpreted by dancers or by the audience itself. These performances redefine the concept of children’s theatre as ‘immersive theatre’, a perceptive environment in which the thin border between art and play beyond language and cultural barriers can be explored.Making use of sensors and projected images, a theatre form comes to life characterized by the unmistakeable graphic and sound features produced by Elsa Mersi (digital design), Spartaco Cortesi (sound design), Rossano Monti and Martin Von Gunten (engineering).Between 2002 and 2007, TPO devised the "CCC [children cheering carpet]"concept: three virtual gardens created on a large dance mat, ‘able’ to animate sounds and images through pressure sensors, a magic carpet where the relationship between contemporary art and nature is experienced through movement or touch.Between 2008 and 2010 the group developed new ways of relating between gestures, music and images, with a project called “Play_Please!”, composed of interactive luminous stations acting as imaginary musical instruments: a technologically advanced environment designed to arouse the curiosity of children and adults to explore, play and create.The success of this new form of children’s theatre has given TPO an international reputation and has opened up new possibilities of research in collaboration with various European and non- European artists.The most recent works include: ‘Butterflies’ (08), ‘Barocco’ (09), Kindur, the adventurous life of sheep in Iceland (10), all made as coproductions with Teatro Metastasio Stabile della Toscana.The company has taken part in numerous prestigious festivals, and is currently undertaking extensive international tours both in theatres and in contemporary art centres. TPO is one of the most interesting European children’s theatre companies.
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