Dario D'Ambrosi, one of Italy's leading performance artists and originator of the theatrical movement called teatro patologico, comes to London for the first time. He brings to Wilton’s his classic one-man show Frustration (Frustra-Azioni). Based on a true story from 1920, it  depicts the obsessed schizophrenic personality of a butcher who imagines himself a male cow, wears a minotaur mask, and pursues offbeat bovine erotic fantasies. 

Performed in English and Italian, it is so explicit in its pantomime that foreign-language portions are understandable.

D'Ambrosi's work is deeply rooted in Commedia dell’Arte and takes a perspective regarding "normal" people's view of the village idiots, or zanni. It is inspired by and often deals directly with the mentally ill. D’Ambrosi (a former professional soccer player) founded the celebrated Teatro Patologico in 1992. The company occupies itself with a unique and universal work; that of trying to unite the theatre and mental health and people with serious psychological problems. The company was based in XVI Municipal building of Via Ramazzini, Rome and in 2006 the regional government of Lazio gave the company a new home in Via Cassia, 472. The company was then able to fully realize their ambition to create a theatre school for people with mental health problems, creating a unique theatre workshop, a place for meetings, encounters, initiatives and projects.

D’Ambrosi has received the equivalent of a Tony Award – for lifetime achievement - from the Instituto del Drama Italiano. 

"Any piece by Mr.  D'Ambrosi is about each member of the audience.  A viewer who surrenders disbelief for a moment will be carried away in an unimaginable world of chaos, wit, bewilderment” DJR Bruckner, New York Times

For more information about Teatro Patalogico please see: facebook.com/Teatro-Internazionale-Di-Roma teatropatologico.org