CABARET VOLTAIRE
or the contradiction

In 1917, two gigantic revolutions were brewing in Switzerland, spring-loaded and ready to explode. While Tristan Tzara, leader of the DADA movement, was drafting his fundamental avant-garde manifesto, the political agitator Vladimir Lenin was secretly developing a plan to overthrow the Tsar's regime in Russia.

Both exiles in Zurich, hidden from the ferocious carnage of the First World War, these two pivotal figures of the twentieth century try to temper their uncontrollable ambitions, finding themselves arguing in one of the most infamous cafés in the city:

the CABARET VOLTAIRE.

Starting from this historical fact, playwright and director Romeo Gasparini once again attempts to use an unresolved historical issue to comment on our contemporary world. With the current artistic scene increasingly veering toward the scandalous and nonsensical ideals of DADA, and the political powder keg in which the status quo seems close to imploding every day, the conversation between a revolutionary of the pen (Tzara) and one of the sword (Lenin) seems irresistible, a chance to eavesdrop, secretly, from the next table in this dingy Zurich dive.

While the downpour rages outside the smoke-stained windows, two gigantic revolutions compete – over a cup of coffee – for the soul of a continent in search of a new sun.

Today the REVOLUTION is everything.

Today the REVOLUTION is nothing.

Be wary of the REVOLUTION.