Soho Playhouse Award, New York · Summerhall Arts Award, Edinburgh · Fringe Prague Nomination · Special Mention "Il mondo che si muove", Livorno
Puttana is an experimental music-theatre piece in which a single actress gives voice to five different characters, while the audience listens through headphones to a sonic experience designed to inhabit the space between the stage and each individual listener's ear.
The music is not a backdrop — it is the sixth presence on stage. Transformed voices, a small ensemble of electric instruments and a three-dimensional sound design built with binaural 3D technology (dearVR PRO 2) place sounds in a 360-degree virtual space, creating the illusion that they originate from outside the listener's head rather than from loudspeakers.
The subject is prejudice. The starting point is prostitution. But the true focus of the piece is the fragmentation of identity and the violence of judgement.
My work
I composed the music and designed the entire sonic architecture of the piece, including the binaural 3D spatialisation that places sounds and music in the virtual space around the listener. This was not a score written in advance: the process was a continuous dialogue with the director and actress throughout rehearsals, building and adapting the material in direct response to each staging choice.
In performance, sound designer Sebastiano Cecchini works live on the actress's voice, shaping and transforming it to give life to the five characters. The result is a system in which written composition and live execution interweave: the musical structure is fixed, but the voice that inhabits it shifts continuously.
Listen with headphones
Press
«One of the more challenging and provocative pieces I have seen in a while. It asks the audience to sit inside moral ambiguity and make up their own minds.» — Aaron, Aaron In NYC (New York, January 2026)
«The headphones create a sense of distance and intimacy at the same time. It blurs the line between performer and character, between observer and participant.» — Aaron, Aaron In NYC
«A full frontal, pull the curtain back exposé of the humanity and inhumanity of sex for purchase. The headphones bring you inside the minds and emotions of the characters.» — David Walters, The Front Row Center (New York, January 2026)«The play hits like a lightning bolt for sixty minutes, unforgiving and unrelenting.» — Kendall DuPré, SoHo Playhouse Fringe Encore Series (February 2026)
Audience reviews — Stagedoor ★★★★★ (5/5)
«Brutally honest. The show gives life to a reality that not many are brave enough to take on stage.» — Fabio Settimo
«Sensitive and raw, funny and thought-provoking. A terrific hour of original theatre.» — Caroline Jennett
Academic Research
This production is the subject of peer-reviewed research on binaural audio dramaturgy, presented at Spatial Audio Gathering 2026 (University of Leeds).
Technical details
Year2023
Dramaturgy - Maura Pettorruso
Direction - Mirko Corradini
Performer - Beatrice Festi
Live Sound Designer - Sebastiano Cecchini
Ensemble - EWI, Electric Violin, Digital Piano, Electronic Drums, Keyboards, Computer
Production - TeatroE
Duration - 60'
Premiere - Festival Tabù, Villazzano (TN) — 3 May 2023
Awards & Recognition
🏆 Soho Playhouse Award — New York
🏆 Summerhall Arts Award — Edinburgh
🎭 Fringe Prague Nomination
🎖️ Special Mention — "Il mondo che si muove" Festival, Livorno
Best experienced with headphones.