Calvino Nights

loosely inspired by the folktales of Italo Calvino.

presented by Mike Shepherd in Cahoots with the Minack Theatre

original production co-directed by Mike Shepherd and Elayce Ismail
‘theatre that sharpens the senses…a bounteous night that deserves a longer life’ The Guardian

Calvino Nights returns with even more wild possibilities of fire, feast and fun-filled fiasco!

Join the marvellous Mr Calvino and his motley troupe of tale-tellers, song-makers and fire-raisers for an unforgettable ride through life told, quite literally, on a cliff-edge precipice! Be entertained by hapless thieves, very clever peas, daft billionaires and women who live entirely on wind!

Loosely inspired by the folktales of Italo Calvino, Calvino Nights is a show for those who’ve lost their moral compass (it’s where you left it!) or for those who simply need a damned good night out!

Mike Shepherd writes: ‘Italo Calvino is an Italian writer who collected aural tellings of folk tales and rewrote them with a lavish sprinkling of exaggeration. Calvino Nights is inspired by a mix of several of these folk tales including the adventures of a boy the size of a pea, a skinflint miser, a woman who lives on nothing more than wind, there are hapless robbers, fallen angels, circus tricks, the cosmos and lots of fire !

Calvino has inspired us for many years. Kneehigh shows The Wild Bride and The Wooden Frock were based on his folk tales. Last April we made a short film at Restormel Castle with director Joe Wright inspired by the Calvino story Princess and Peppernose – you can see it below! Now is the time though to leave those screens behind ! Stories need to be experienced live, we all need live events!’

Calvino Nights is for children, their older brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.