La Strada

One of the true masterpieces of modern cinema, Federico Fellini’s 1957 Oscar-winning film, La Strada (The Road), will be brought to life on stage in a brand new adaptation directed by Olivier Award nominee Sally Cookson with music composed by Benji Bower. The production will receive its world premiere at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry on 11 February 2017 where it opens for the start of a 16-week national tour, prior to its London transfer. 

Awarded the honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1993, Italian director Federico Fellini changed the face of film-making forever with his seminal films such as La Strada, La Dolce Vita, 81Ž2, Nights of Cabiria and Satyricon. Marking 60 years since La Strada, starring Anthony Quinn, won the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ Academy award, Fellini’s cinematic masterpiece, hailed as “one of the most influential films ever made” (the American Film Institute), sees its first ever UK stage adaptation.

Based on the subject and script work by Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli and a soul-searching story filled with beauty, sadness, humour and acute observation, La Strada tells the tragic and tender tale of wide-eyed Gelsomina who is sold by her impoverished mother to the brutish strongman Zampano, a travelling sideshow performer. Their journey through the Italian countryside leads them to a ragtag touring circus where they meet Il Matto the free-spirited tightrope walker, who tries to rekindle Gelsomina’s broken spirit.

Creative team

Director - Sally Cookson

Musical direction and music - Benji Bower

‘Writer in the room’ - Mike Akers

Set and costume design - Katie Sykes

Lighting design - Aideen Malone

Sound design - Mike Beer.