The principal idea which led to the creation of Acting Out - A compact Coriolanus is that of introducing youngsters to the themes examined by Shakespeare in Coriolanus. The objective is to create a parallel story to that of Shakespeare, bringing the context up to date.   
In order to create the play, in co-production with the Piccolo Teatro, Duncan Kidd has had to bring the story of Coriolanus to modern times. Shakespeare’s tragedy has become a comedy, a story within a story where the themes of bullying, integration into a group and the need to be liked by others are highlighted with irony and sarcasm. In the fiction of theatre, a company of actors specialised in Forum Theatre, a form of theatre which favours interaction with the audience over the performance of a traditional production, presents a very personalised version of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. Moments of interaction with the audience alternate with comical and hilarious moments in which the actors are reflected in their roles and they tell their version of the facts. Each situation proposed, parallel to that presented by Shakespeare, offers opportunities for reflection, and provides amusement for the audience. It is both funny and thought-provoking: and if someone is unable to become part of a group? What if they aren’t accepted for what they are?
“In politics, the winners are those who know how to present themselves, not those who tell the truth”, says the director Laura Pasetti, explaining how the theme of this play is “the art of rhetoric, or rather, the art of persuasion. Acting Out - A compact Coriolanus examines exclusion and bullying, as well as manipulation. How easy it is to take a stand when we are influenced by others... The audience is the people of Rome, who laugh at the jokes from the tribunes and who change idea without even realising. Enslaved and happy? Shakespeare said so in the 1500s... perhaps there is some truth in it”.