The Artists
For over 25 years Giovanni Margio and Antonio Mazzella have been delighting Australian and international audiences performing under their stage names of Sanjiva and Giri.
GIOVANNI (SANJIVA) MARGIO
Giovanni’s love of street theatre has taken him to many countries in search of perfecting the various art forms. Starting in Sicily with training in the fine arts, he migrated to Australia where he studied graphic design in Perth, and circus skills, story telling and mime, Commedia dell’ Arte. As a sculptor and designer he has created many large carnival floats and theatre props, inspired by his apprenticeship in float making with Professore Giuseppe Domenici of the famous Viarreggio Carnevale. He performs regularly with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, directs theatre productions and makes masks.
ANTONIO ( GIRI ) MAZZELLA
With numerous credits in national radio, TV and stage, Antonio is a multi talented performer with a career spanning over 25 years. After initial training in classical voice, his exploration of physical theatre led him through puppetry, street circus, improvisation, clown, mime, theatre sports, cabaret, mask, community arts and carnival parades. Antonio has directed theatre productions and created masked musical plays for schools Italian programs. He recently finished a tour of the Northern Territory where he performed solo shows, ran mask, puppetry and. drama games programs for teachers, students and people with disabilities.
For details of Antonio's solo work click HERE.
THE 'I PAPAVERI' STORY
For over 12 years, Giovanni Margio alongside Antonio and Kavisha Mazzella performed with the musical cabaret company 'I PAPAVERI', featuring in many festivals and radio programs nationwide.
In 1991, Antonio and Giovanni received a study grant to learn Mask performance under masters of the art in Indonesia, Malaysia , India and Italy. They both studied Commedia dell’Arte under the acclaimed Antonio Fava and mask making with the renowned Stefano Perocco of Tag Theatre in Venice,and Paolo Consiglio of the Sartori Commedia School, eventually perfoming their shows at the prestigious 'Casa Di Pulcinella' in Bari, Italy,to critical acclaim.
After working individually and as a team in many professional arts organisations around Australia, their dream of launching an Academy of Commedia dell’Arte which reflected the roots of the pure tradition and the vigour of our new developing culture is now possible.