Performance of the Municipal Theatre of Mlada Boleslav presented by Art Without Borders and CSSK Vancouver.
Actors: Radim Madeja (Thalia award 2015) & Jakub Shafr
May 1, 2026 at 8pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts
6450 Deer Lake Ave, Burnaby
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Novecento is a theatrical monologue written by Alessandro Baricco and published by Feltrinelli in 1994. The text was meant to be the script for a play directed by Gabriele Vacis and performed by Eugenio Allegri, which was first staged at the Asti Festival in July of the same year. The author described it as something between “a true staging and a story to be read aloud.”
The book has been a commercial success in Italy and abroad, selling more than one million copies in the first sixteen years after publication[1] and in 1998 it was adapted into a film titled The Legend of 1900, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, with the characters Novecento and Tooney (named Max in the film) portrayed by Tim Roth and Pruitt Taylor Vince, respectively.
Plot
At the very beginning of 1900, an old sailor found a baby in a lemon box on an ocean liner. Apparently, some desperate third-class passenger had left it there. The foundlings began to call Lemon, that is, Citron. On that huge ship, Citron discovered a piano in the first-class restaurant, sat down at it and immersed his hands in white and black tones, and suddenly the legend of “Nineteen Hundred” was born. The legend of a miraculous pianist.
A single actor, one excellent pianist, the audience literally at hand and a great story shared together – these are the ingredients that make this production an experience not to be missed.
The performance was awarded the Thalia Award 2015