Bicycle Thieves
Joelysa Pankanea (Canada)
Composer and musical director Joelysa Pankanea guides a group of six musicians and four actors as they provide live musical and voice accompaniment to the landmark neorealist film Bicycle Thieves. The project is a special commission from PuSh to Pankanea; when asked to choose a film to pay this special kind of tribute to, she chose Vittorio De Sica’s masterpiece, which tells the story of an impoverished man, his son and their search for a stolen bicycle amid the chaos of post-WWII Rome. The score and voice work add vibrancy and a greater sense of urgency to De Sica’s black-and-white images, making his work all the more affecting.
Pankanea’s music is deceptively, stealthily simple; its repetitions become haunting; its big deep chords sink into you. —The Georgia Straight
The film is projected with no sound. Onstage, the four actors—Marco Soriano, Stefano Guilianetti, Susan Bertoia, and Sal Sortino—provide live voiceovers in Italian while Mark Haney (bass), Martin Fisk (percussion), Molly MacKinnon (violin), Marina Hasselberg (cello), Emily Jane King (piano, keyboard) and Michael Simpsonelli (mandolin, guitar, percussion) bring Pankanea’s haunting score to life. Prepare to be moved and enthralled.
THIS FILM IS RATED PG
Catch the PuSh FILM SERIES screening of Vittorio De Sica’s The Children Are Watching Us.
Explore similar shows
Artist Bio
Joelysa Pankanea (Canada)
Joelysa Pankanea first gained recognition with her score for the critically acclaimed Vancouver production Crime and Punishment, presented by PuSh in 2004. Her work as a composer, musical director, sound director and percussionist has taken her into the worlds of theatre, film, and animation, where she has garnered multiple awards and nominations.
Partners
Venue
1218 Cartwright Street, Granville Island, Vancouver
Showtimes
January 26–27
90 minutes, no intermission
7PM
(Jan 26)
2PM
(Jan 27)
Tickets
Single tickets $39
Buy Tickets
Or call 604.449.6000
NOTE: Online tickets are no longer available for the Sunday, 2pm performance. Tickets maybe be available at the venue box office, one hour before showtime.
The passholder allotment for Bicycle Thieves has been reached.
Access
IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SURTITLES
Credits
COMPOSER Joelysa Pankanea BASS Mark Haney CELLO Marina Hasselberg VIOLIN Molly MacKinnon MARIMBA/PERCUSSION Martin Fisk MANDOLIN/GUITAR/PERCUSSION Michael Simpsonelli PIANO/KEYBOARD Emily Jane King ACTORS Marco Soriano, Susan Bertoia, Stefano Guilianetti, Sal Sortino SCRIPT TRANSLATION Michal Bartosiak ASSISTANT TO THE COMPOSER Evan Rein COMMISSIONED BY PuSh Festival