For the fourth year in a row, Il teatro tiene banco is back — a project made possible thanks to the generous support of Fondazione Monte di Lombardia: a program of shows and activities dedicated to different school-age audiences, in which the performing arts serve as a useful tool for students and teachers to enrich their educational paths.

Five shows, two theatrical guided tours and a workshop make up this proposal for younger audiences.

The programme includes five theatrical productions exclusively for schools, written and directed by Davide Carnevali and performed by Daniele Cavone Felicioni, Michele Dell’Utri, Diana Manea and Giulia Trivero. For primary schools, the Scatola Magica at the Teatro Strehler welcomes the return of La favolosa battaglia dei topi e delle rane, a show inspired by The Batrachomyomachia by Giacomo Leopardi that invites a reflection, with the children in the audience, on the management of conflict and the importance of dialogue and of listening (4–16 November 2025).

Also for younger children, Viaggio fantastico nel (sotto)suolo, which, again drawing inspiration from Giacomo Leopardi – this time from his Small Moral Works – addresses the themes of ecology, sustainability and de-anthropisation by revealing the wonders that hide in the first few centimetres of the ground (18–23 November 2025).

Pre-teens from lower secondary schools are taking on the themes of legality, violence and the oppression of the weak by the strong, in Quel ladro del Lago di Como, a re-reading of The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni (Teatro Studio Melato, 6–14 February 2026).

The situation is reversed for students from upper schools, with actors going to their audiences in classrooms, bringing with them two performances, from 15 to 18 October 2025 and from 13 to 30 April 2026: Antigone in cattedra is a true educational drama, in which the heroine of Sophocles and Brecht becomes a spokesperson for themes such as legality, politics, feminism and the patriarchy; inspired by the masterpiece by Luigi Pirandello, Sei personaggi in cerca di followers seeks to encourage youngsters to reflect on the pretence that fills our daily lives and on how we manage our own image in the era of social networks.

The 2025/26 season also includes the customary cycles of theatrical guided tours of the Teatro Strehler, with Benvenuti al Piccolo! Nel paese di Teatro, a behind-the-scenes exploration of the machinery that drives the theatre (21–29 March 2026), and Benvenuti al Piccolo! Green Tour dell’isola degli alberi, a sustainable voyage through theatrical places and texts (14 October–21 December 2025). Both shows are curated by Michele Dell’Utri.

Elementary school children are also the exclusive audience for La magica scatola di Arlecchino, a sustainable theatrical tailoring workshop curated by Andrea Zaru, with Roberta Mangano and the Piccolo’s tailors (Scatola Magica – Teatro Strehler, 9–30 April 2026).
 

With the support of
 

 
The show Benvenuti al Piccolo! Green tour dell’isola degli alberi is part of the European project