Paola Gassman

Water is my favourite element, and I feel like I’m flowing when I’m in water. The images from films flow as well and the most significant ones float forever on the waves of my memories.

Paola Gassman

Paola Gassman has worked almost exclusively in theatre, excepting a few sporadic but significant appearances on television in comedies and dramatizations.

At the beginning of her career, she spent three years with the Teatro Libero  Company directed by Luca Ronconi, and the staging of Orlando Furioso  saw her perform in many European countries and the United States, culminating in an important television show in episodes. In this same period she performed in The Revenger’s Tragedy  directed by Ronconi and Cucina directed by Lina Wertmuller. She then joined the Brignone–Pagliai Company performing in Ghosts by Ibsen and The Family Process  by Fabbri.

She was also directed by her father Vittorio in plays including Cesare o Nessuno, Fa male il Teatro and Bugie Sincere. With the Pagliai-Gassman theatrical company, she performed in numerous plays including many dramas and comedies. A notable period of her career was the long phase dedicated to Pirandello: Liolà, The Pleasure of Honesty, Ma non è una cosa seria, followed by The Liar by Goldoni,  Pig in a Poke by Feydeau, Scene di matrimonio by Svevo, The Merchant of Venice and Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare.

She has acted with many directors including Squarzina, Castri, Bolognini, Piccardi, Sciaccaluga, Ronconi, Maccarinelli, and among her numerous recent performances are  Blithe Spirit  by Coward, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan by Miller, Life with Father by  Crouse, Harvey by Chase, Iphigenia in Aulis and Helen by Euripides , Viaggio a Venezia and The Coffee Shop by Goldoni. In recent years, with Ugo Pagliai, she has also devoted herself to poetry and all those passages associated with memory, recollection and repertoire.

In 2007 she published her autobiography Una grande famiglia dietro le spalle for Marsilio Editore.