Laura Giordani, acting…beyond limits and boundaries
Laura Giordani, an actress, singer and director from Catania, began her path as an actress in 1993 when she attended the Scuola di Avviamento al Teatro ‘Umberto Spadaro’ of the Teatro Stabile di Catania. She graduated in 1996, in the same year she debuted by taking part in Tony Cucchiara’s musical ‘La Baronessa di Carini’ directed by Angelo Tosto. Her career is full of works in theater, film and TV. Sicilian Secrets interviewed her.
Q: You have a multifaceted career: how did you realize you wanted to become an actress?
A: We have to start very far back, 40 years ago! I was nine years old when I decided to do this job: ‘Mom, Dad, I’m going to be an actress when I grow up!’, and they supported my decision, despite the difficulties of this career. And so, in my early twenties, I auditioned for the training school of Teatro Stabile di Catania, and then my path began.
Q: Theater, cinema, TV: in which of these ‘arenas’ do you prefer to express your talent?
A: In front of this question I am always a little bit confused: they are beautiful ‘places’ where you can show off your skills but also your weaknesses. It is also true that I never stop working at the theater and satisfaction happens every day! But it’s sure that you can experience each time some different emotions!
Q: You performed at the Greek Theater in Syracuse, that for many actors and especially for many Sicilian actors is a sort of dream, an important achievement. What can you tell us about your experience?
A: I wish to act at the Greek Theater to all my colleagues, it is pure beauty, it means to test your stress, tension, attention…it is getting straight to the hearts of thousands of spectators every night, for weeks. Even from the point of view of the actors, you get to know so many people from all over the world, different and very rich realities, you create valuable exchanges, and you do a lot of work in various areas: physical, vocal and acting, a beautiful and exciting test bed, definitely!
Q: Laura Giordani and Sicily: what is your connection with the island? And how do you bring your ‘Sicilianity’ to the stage?
A: Controversial. It is a controversial bond, sometimes violent, because Sicily, which is a land of extraordinary beauty-richness-history-culture, is still to this day dominated by those who want to keep it under control, geopolitically, socially, etc., and those who pay the price are those we fail or struggle to emerge, unless we go away, far away, where still talent and merit are an added value. While in Trinacria the phrase: ‘Tu a cui apparteni???’ still prevails, and it is profoundly useless to pretend that it does not. It is a daily struggle. And I always carry on stage, willy-nilly, you can see it in my eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul. That’s it.
Q: After appreciating you with Emma Dante’s ‘The Macaluso Sisters,’ we recently saw you at the cinema with ‘La Stranezza’ alongside Servillo, and Ficarra & Picone. Can you tell us some tidbits from the set?
A: Meanwhile, I would like to say that it was a great experience, from the crew, to the cast, to the director, we had days of incessant work, tiring indeed, but beautiful, and always with a smile on our faces, together with great professionals, starting with Ficarra & Picone to continue with all of us, actresses and actors of the ‘little theater of the philodramatics.’ Here is an anecdote: during a break, where the technicians were changing the set, the colleague sitting next to me gasped, poked me and said, “Oh my God, but it’s him, look at the back of the stalls!!!” and looking at the back of the stalls Pirandello appeared, that is, Servillo… who was just like Pirandello, though… in short he looked like him!!! We were a bit impressed, vah!
Q: Professionally speaking, what do you consider one of your most important successes?
A: Absolutely Katia, in the film ‘The Macaluso Sisters’ by Emma Dante, as she is a very different character from me, and we actresses (and actors) always dig deep into our lives and experiences to inspire us and get closer to the character we have to play, but really this time I couldn’t find any help. It was an amazing job, Emma supported us a lot, and I cannot thank her enough for this extraordinary opportunity, for this personal and professional growth.
Laura Giordani
Q: Laura Giordani as…is there a character you would like to play?
A: I have to say that I’m very lucky, I’ve played an infinite number of different roles in my career (twenty-six years or so!), but actually, I’m missing a few. I don’t know, maybe the role of a mother, that would be another good test, since I don’t have children, I would have to put a lot of effort into it, which then is the most beautiful and important work, the one with the director and colleagues, the one of discussions, chats about the characters, why they are there, at that time, in that place, why they behave that way, about their past and their future.
Q: What are your future projects…and why not, your professional dreams?
A: Future projects…in progress writing my next show, but I don’t anticipate anything about, for many reasons. It will be my fifth production, I discovered years ago the importance of giving myself opportunities and of bringing to the stage social issues on which to then confront and debate with the audience: ‘Sei personaggi in cerca di…’, ‘Rosa, la cantatrice del Sud’, ‘Sud’dui’, ‘Donne’, ‘Plurale universale’, they all deal with totally different themes, prose and musical shows, between the grotesque and the dramatic, on which to reflect and to be brought to even unconventional places. I think that theater push it as well outside the walls of a theater, it is important to act in places and spaces that are ‘other’.
Professional dreams, on the other hand, I have plenty of them: to do more theater tours around Italy, I would like to work in a French film, to go overseas, to do everything I haven’t done yet, and to continue to grow, to learn, to overcome limits and boundaries.
