Stefania Licari: The intensive care doctor and comedian

Stefania Licari

Medico, the debut live comedy show from NHS intensive care doctor Stefania Licari, is touring the UK in 2022.

The show, which was co-devised and is directed by Chris Head, offers a comical and moving exploration of the medical world, immigration and what it means to become British.

Here's an introduction by Chris Head, followed by an interview with Stefania conducted by freelance journalist Lilia Sebouai.

Medico introduced by Chris Head

With Stefania Licari, I have co-devised and directed a unique and rather wonderful one-hour medical comedy show. Here is the trailer where Stefania dances with a skeleton who is Stefania's co-star - and, spoiler alert, yes they do dance in the show.

It's been wonderful working with Stefania on the show. (And thanks to John Nicholson of Peepolykus for his brilliant physical comedy directing).

Chris Head

It's delightfully silly character comedy with great stories (of romance and medicine), daft physical gags and three songs - including one beautiful song about the best way to insert a urinary catheter.

Following an initial run at Hope Theatre, Islington, it's now on at the salubrious Museum of Comedy in London. Two shows left in this current run! (Dates to follow at Brighton Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe and more). Come along and enjoy an intensive care patient (just about) live on stage, a dancing skeleton and a series of medically accurate knob gags.

Stefania Licari interviewed by Lilia Sebouai

Stefania Licari

Arriving ten minutes early, Stefania Licari scoots into her favorite Italian café in Westbourne Grove, requests "the best cappuccino you've ever made" from the counter, and immediately recognises me as the eager note-taker from the front row of her show.

The one-woman performance Medico, where she brings her comedy alter ego, Dr Anna LaRosa, to the stage for a hilarious exploration of what it means to be an Italian doctor in the UK, had its West End debut at the Museum of Comedy recently.

Stefania appears younger in person, detached from the unforgiving glare of the theatre lights, her inky black Sicilian hair flows effortlessly to her shoulders, and her olive skin beams an easy radiance.

She seems softer than Dr Anna, her Italian accent is noticeably less pronounced ("I have learnt when to bring it in and out over the years"). Surprisingly, she doesn't feel the need to infuse a gag into every other sentence as many insecurity-ridden comedians do, instead, she emanates an air of self-assurance and sagacity.

Although how distinct can an alter ego really be from one's true self?

"The idea for Dr Anna started as a bit of a caricature, a bit of slapstick comedy. Although the more that I work at her, the closer she comes to me. I think I've been wanting to have a voice for a long time and it's very empowering to write your own material, especially as a migrant woman."

Stefania Licari

An active agent in her own self-crafting, Stefania reconstructs herself on stage to feed her insatiable desire to "test her own limits" and perform free from obstruction.

Stefania brought her conventional medical career to a screeching halt ten years ago, when she made the life-altering decision to quit full-time medicine and work as a locum doctor in order to pursue acting instead. "I don't find medicine and art that different, because ultimately they are both about human stories. The main pillars, which are human beings, stories, drama, and connections, are all there. Impacting somebody's life for me is a kind of purpose and I learned over the years that art can change people's life way more than medicine."

Despite her unrelenting tenacity and enthusiasm for the arts, she was frequently met with hostility from fellow actors in the early stages of her career who doubted her acting ability due to her medical background.

"Do you think I would be leaving a really promising, well-paid medical job if I wasn't motivated? I'm not stupid, do you think I would have made these sacrifices for a hobby?", each word throbs with passion.

It wasn't until 2016, when she was trained by the famed clown-master Philippe Gaulier at his prestigious school in France, that she learned how to celebrate what made her different.

"Phillip Gaulier allowed me to really blossom and be unique, he told me: 'you're unique because you're Italian, use that.' And that really helped me".

Stefania found an indomitable power in forging her own voice and tirelessly fashioning her own narrative: "When I moved to this country, I asked myself 'what kind of person will you choose to be'?".

In her early thirties, "just before the acting thing", Stefania took a sabbatical from her steady medical job. What was meant to be a six-month break turned into a two-year trip around the world: "I wanted to see what happens to yourself, especially when you're traveling alone, and your house is a backpack".

Stefania Licari

Guided only by her senses, she lived serenely on isolated beaches in South America, hunted the scent of the durian fruit around Southeast Asia and studied Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet.

"When I found myself alone in a difficult situation, I would listen to my voice and I began to hear encouragement, 'you're amazing, you're making it, look at you'. I didn't know that I had that and discovering it really altered the course of my life".

Shortly after returning to London, ("I only came back because I ran out of money"), Stefania was stuck next to an overly friendly man, ("he was trying to chat me up"), who asked: 'If money wasn't an issue, what would you do?'

"Oh, I would be an actress". Something in her subconscious had answered for her.

"I don't remember if I cried, screamed, or laughed, but it was such an emotional moment."

Stefania has reappropriated her voice and Medico serves as a theatrical celebration of her own multi-faceted self.
"When people say to me 'what made you change from being a doctor to acting?', I think that's the wrong question. For me, acting is like going home".


Medico: Info & Tickets

Published: Monday 21st February 2022

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