Mario and the Magician

“You do whatever you want. Or have you ever failed to do what you wanted? Or even done something you didn’t want to do? Something you didn’t want?”

A strange holiday. A strange magician.

Mario & the Magician tells the story of the power-hungry Cipolla, who captivates the audience at his show with his sharp tongue, astonishing hypnotic abilities and a strangely fascinating aura, luring them into macabre experiments until the dangerous game comes to a bitter end.

Set in fascist Italy of the 1930s, in an atmosphere characterised by mistrust and intolerance towards all that is foreign, this novella by Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann is a parable on the manipulability of human beings in general.
The stage adaptation by Bühne Cipolla combines poetic words with puppetry and live cello music to create a theatrical evening of a very special kind.