Chiara D'Anna

I'm a London-based Director, Actress and Movement specialist. As Artist Director at Panta Rei Theatre my mission is to inspire, challenge and entertain audiences with humour, irony and powerful imagery. My productions are a unique mix of physical theatre, dark surreal comedy and political satire.

For Panta Rei Theatre I wrote and directed 'Rocinante! Rocinante!' (2010-2012) supported by the Youth in Action EU Funding for the Arts; 'Samhain Night' (2011), 'Don Quixote! Don Quixote!' (2012) winner of the Charlie Harthill Special Prize, Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2012; 'A Floating Caravan Under the Moon' (2014/15) and the acclaimed 'Don’t You Dare!' (2018/20) winner of the Concorso Teatrale Internazionale della Città di Chivasso as Best Show, Best Director, Best Actress and Audience Award.

Other credits include adaptations of Mistero Buffo (2017) and Accidental Death of An Anarchist (2018) by Dario Fo; The Mountain Giants (2019; 2016) and Henry IV (2011) by Luigi Pirandello and The Holiday Trilogy by Carlo Goldoni for students’ productions at Rose Bruford College; and the Commedia dell’Arte shows Commedia dell’Shakespeare (2017), Commedia Extravaganza (2016/17 ) and Commedia del Cappuccino (2020) at East 15 Acting School.

I teach Movement at RADA and Commedia at East15, London and the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy.

Credits

DIRECTOR, DON’T YOU DARE! International Theatre Festival Chivasso, 1 week, 2020

DIRECTOR, DON’T YOU DARE! Tristan Bates & Cockpit Theatre (2 weeks); Turin Fringe Festival (2 weeks), European Theatre Festival, Rome (1 week), 2018-19

DIRECTOR, FINDING HOME, Crisis Art Festival, 1 week, 2017

DIRECTOR, A FLOATING CARAVAN UNDER THE MOON, Crisis Art Festival, Arezzo & At Boiling Point Festival, London, 1 week, 2016

MOVEMENT DIRECTOR, BARBARELLA DISCO DOME, London Decompression, The Coronet, 1night event, 2015

MOVEMENT DIRECTOR, JULIUS, Spitalfields Music Festival & GV Art Gallery, 2 weeks, 2013

CO-DIRECTOR, FAMILY ALBUM, International Commedia dell’Arte Day, Istanbul, 1 night, 2013

DIRECTOR, DON QUIXOTE! Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 4 weeks, 2012

DIRECTOR, ROCINANTE! ROCINANTE!, Bussey Buildings, CLF Art Café, 3 weeks, 2012

MOVEMENT DIRECTOR, BAROQUE BOX, Greenwich & Docklands Festival, 2 weeks 2011

DIRECTOR, SAMHAIN NIGHT, Off the Grid, St Paul’s, London, 1 night event, 2011

MOVEMENT DIRECTOR, BAROCCATA, Riverside Studios, London, 1 week,2010

DIRECTOR, MASQUERADE, Italian Cultural Institute in London, 1 night, 2010

DIRECTOR, IL MERCATO DEL MONDO, Italian Cultural Institute in London, 1 night (2009)

MOVEMENT COAH / CONSULTANT, One Man Two Guvnors, Derby Theatre, 4 weeks (2019)

MOVEMENT DIRECTOR, MEDOUSA, Riverside Studios, London, 1 week, 2009

Training

I trained at:
Teatranza Drama School
Royal Holloway University (MA in Physical Theatre)
The Staniewski Centre for Theatre Practices "Gardzienice".

After my MA at Royal Holloway I carried on training and teaching with Ali Hodge and the international performance ensemble The Quick and the Dead.

At the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław I trained with Zygmut Molik and Andrei Droznin, Master Teacher of Movement at the Moscow Art Theater School and the Vakhtangov School in Moscow; and Head of Movement for the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

I hold a PhD in Performing Arts from The Cass, London Met University on The Legacy of Commedia dell'Arte in Postdramatic Thaetre (2019)