More than an art form, theatre is a space for confronting oneself. ‘Empathy Rehearsals‘ explores how performance can break through the defensive mechanisms of a teenager accustomed to communicating through intimidation. Without turning the school into a spectacular setting or attempting to stylize aggression, the director Jacopo Cullin depicts the atmosphere of a system in which abuse can go unnoticed precisely because it has become normalized. Within this environment, the theatre workshop creates a rupture, becoming the only place where words must be heard and the reactions of others can no longer be ignored.
Forced to attend a theatre workshop as punishment, Tommy enters the room with the hostility of someone convinced that he has nothing to learn from anyone else. Yet once he is asked to listen to the voices of those he had previously ignored or hurt, he begins to understand that empathy is an exercise requiring vulnerability and the willingness to set pride aside.
The short film fits naturally within the tradition of stories that present culture and education as forms of resistance to violence. There is something here of the faith “Freedom Writers” places in personal expression, as well as the almost romantic belief in “Dead Poets Society” that art can transform a young person’s perspective. The project’s didactic dimension is clearly visible but never becomes intrusive, while Jacopo Cullin presents theatre as an exercise in stepping outside oneself, a space where adolescents can explore other identities and discover the consequences of their own actions. The workshop exercises become moments that allow those previously reduced to the status of victims to finally gain space and a voice. From this reversal emerges the possibility of a friendship grounded in mutual recognition. The lead performance convincingly supports this transition. Tommy is not reduced to the schematic figure of a bully who simply learns his lesson, even though the short format doesn’t provide enough time to fully explore his personal history marked by his mother’s death and an emotionally hardened father. Nevertheless, the short film retains its relevance by portraying theatre as a way of creating connection where there had previously been only hostility. Jacopo Cullin delivers a clear and necessary project that confronts aggression without abandoning the possibility of change. ‘Empathy Rehearsals’ reminds us that we are all actors on the great stage of the world, but also that empathy sometimes needs to be rehearsed, repeated, and learned until the other person ceases to be a stranger.
