24, 25 Jan 2009. This one-man show by Berkoff is made up of two works. The first is an elegant presentation of an Edgar Allen Poe story that clinically dissects the psychology of paranoia. The story opens with stilted movement and metronomic vocal rhythms but builds to an explosion of blood-curdling mayhem and hysteria. Along the way Berkoff swings from moments of sardonic humour to others of sheer brilliance. The second, Dog , is a hilarious exploration of the relationship between a pitbull and his owner - a football hooligan who shows tenderness by allowing the dog to hoover up the Chinese takeaways he vomited onto the pavement after ingesting a few too many beers. The show points to an equivalence between dog and owner, though the pitbull emerges as more sympathetic, more articulate and ultimately more human. In English. Teatro Argentina, Largo di Torre Argentina, tel. 066840001, www.teatrodiroma.net.

Le Fiamme e la Ragione by Corrado Augias. 24, 25 Jan. Directed by Ruggero Cara, with Corrado Augias voice, C-Project live music, Valentino Corvino live-electronics, and Fabio Tricomi oud, lyre and drums. The work, based on texts by writer and journalist Corrado Augias, pays tribute to the figure of Giordano Bruno, the great philosopher who was burned at the stake for what were considered his heretic theories by the Catholic Church in 1600. In this work, Augias highlights and focuses on themes like freedom of thought, the secularity of the state, the reasons of science, the role of religion. In Italian.