Boccaccio on YouTube: the idea is of Italian actors quarantined in the UK

One novella by Giovanni Boccaccio per week, read by professional actors quarantined in the United Kingdom.

Tessa Battaiotto, an actress from Gallarate, who graduated at the International College of Musical Theatre, in London, talks about the project of the YouTube channel “Decameron Covid-19”: “At the moment, I’m spending the quarantine period in Cambridge; I haven’t gone back to Italy, because all flights have been cancelled.” The coronavirus is particularly damaging to the sector of the arts, and performers are reinventing themselves as much as they can. “In the UK, the self-employed still haven’t received any financial help from the state, maybe something will come to us in June. Now I’m giving English lessons online.”

“The idea of reading Boccaccio, came to me thanks to a project by a friend of mine, who’s reading Shakespeare on YouTube,” the actress said. “With another friend of mine, another Italian actress, I thought Id concentrate on the theme of the plague and the atmosphere of quarantine. It’s a way to get back to acting in Italian. The actresses Elena Mazzon, Chiara D’An and I have involved other people.”

So, together with other actors, (all Italians quarantined in the United Kingdom) as modern followers of Boccaccio, they have got together, virtually, to read the novellas. “Every Sunday, a new novella comes out on the channel; an actor or actress provides the direction, in rotation. Basically, there are eight people, but anyone can participate.” On Sunday, April 26, the third reading is coming out; so far, Andreuccio from Perugia and Caterina and the nightingale have been read.

What Tessa and her companions are looking for, however, is interaction. “Everyone can participate: we’d like to collaborate, especially with schools, since they’re taken up with distance teaching. We want to make our YouTube channel more interactive; anyone that sees us can leave a comment, or ask us to read their favourite novella.”

And what are you waiting for? Why don’t you join the Boccaccio brigade?