Venice Carnival - The Show
Celebrating the Story of Venice
Award-Winning Talent
International award-winning writer/director, Anthony Wilkinson, and Andrew Empson, Producer/designer of many hit shows on London’s West End (An Inspector Calls, The Woman in Black, Amadeus).
The Story
It's 1913 - a family of mask makers and costumiers are preparing for the last of the grand Carnival masquerades. It will be the end of an era. Their client, the incredible Marchesa Luisa Casati, known for her exotic wild animals, extravagant life style, and highly revealing costumes.
As they handle costumes collected over the centuries they re-live the story of Venice: islands of refuge in a salty lagoon - the pious theft of the body of St. Mark - the boom of the merchant empire - the triumphant battle of Lepanto - the birth of Carnival itself - Casanova's daring escape - the city of masks - gambling and amorous liaisons...
...it will move you, captivate you…and make you laugh.
Dazzling Stage Entertainment
As the fantasy grows, live and filmed actors combine with the world's most advanced digital projection, lighting, and surround-sound techniques to present an exhilarating entertainment bringing to life famous personalities associated with Venice...
Be transported to the worlds of Marco Polo, Casanova, Vivaldi and Lord Byron: step into the colourful Carnival party atmosphere of Harlequin, Punch and Columbine.
A swirling, sensory, all-enveloping series of stories where the atmosphere of Venice at times literally spins around and over you in a vibrant and colourful series of projection sequences.
At the end of the show, as you emerge again into the Venice evening you marvel at this majestic city with a new spring in your step and with new eyes, having had the chance to live – if for just a while - in the fantastic world of the Venice Carnival Experience...
See the timeline of the historical events of Venice
The Tradition of Carnival and Masks
Carnival celebrations in Venice date back as far as 1162. Leading up to the time of Lent all rich foods, such as eggs and meat, needed to be disposed of. What better excuse than to have a celebration feast to use it all up! And so was born the tradition of ‘Carn-ivale’ - the literal translation: ‘Carni’ – Meat; ‘Vale’ – Farewell..
The show is set just before the ravages of two world-wars, fascism, and the onset of mass-tourism turn Carnival into a pale reflection of this glorious 900-year-old tradition. A tradition that has literally shaped the very face and character of the City itself.
In the usually conservative society of Venice, Carnival was an excuse to break-free of these stifling constraints. The mask, that has become the icon of Carnival, was used to preserve anonymity and provide a perfect excuse to behave with abandon...
In fact, the mask was such a potent a symbol of free-license that it was strictly forbidden to wear it outside of Carnival-time. So serious an offence was it that the penalty was: for men, 2 years in prison, and 18 months rowing in the galleys; and for women - to be whipped from San Marco to the Rialto, and banishment for 4 years.
Masks were also a great leveler: they permitted nobility to mix freely with commoners; for people to discover what was being said about them; and opportunities for the inhibited to emerge from their shells. It also afforded perfect cover for spies to do their masters’ bidding, providing fertile ground for plotting and conspiracies to blossom …
Carnival has inspired countless generations of artists and writers and has drawn towering figures from History to this great city. Its spirit lives on – to this day Carnival is still a time of riotous excess, frivolity and fun..."
