La Carta (The Letter) by Paolo Nani is a visual and ingenious solo clown performance: a man, a letter and a series of constantly surprising gags. 

Considered a classic of contemporary gestural theatre, La Carta is a prodigy of pace, precision and visual humour. Paolo Nani reinvents the same theatrical sequence in 15 different versions ? without speaking a single word ? and draws growing complicity from the audience in a continuous outburst of ingenuity and laughter.

Created in 1992 and inspired by Raymond Queneau's "Exercises in Style",La Carta has become a key work in gestural theatre and international contemporary comedy. Paolo Nani starts off with a simple action ? a man trying to write a letter ? and transforms it into a hypnotic spectacle, by repeating it in 15 variations bursting with creativity: rewound, without hands, in the style of a circus, western, silent film, heavily drunk, terrified? and plenty more. With outstanding mastery of pace, bodily precision and memorable facial gymnastics, Nani keeps the audience constantly laughing, building up a complicity which grows scene by scene. 

Actor: Paolo Nani. Director: Nullo Facchini.