Comedians

Gabriele Salvatores offers us the film version of the play by the same name by Trevor Griffiths, an award-winning work from the late 1970s. In the film, six aspiring comedians sign up for a stand-up comedy school run by a famous politically active actor. At the end of the course, the best of them are awarded a television contract assigned by a prosecutor. The latter has different ideas about comedy than the school teacher, and this is exactly where the students’ dilemma arises: remain loyal to their teacher or betray him in order to be successful? Two remarkable places in Trieste are the “Hangar Teatri” in Via Pecenco and the old port. Trieste is the place where buildings are not abandoned but reinvented: a former car repair shop is transformed into a house for actors, directors and playwrights, singers and artists of all kinds. The “Porto Vecchio” is the direct evidence of the Austro-Hungarian past of Trieste. After years of inactivity, the complex of monumental buildings that make up the Old Harbour has become a popular location for film productions, video clips and tours. It also hosts the largest convention centre in the northeast!