A bicycle with four wheels and four pedals, two chains and two seats, a steering wheel and a theater. The theater is in the back. Proscenium, stage, curtain. For the audience, it depends: for the "Stories in Sky and Earth" festival, a tribute to fellow citizen Gianni Rodari, this time there were holm oaks and cork oaks in the woods of Manziana, about forty kilometers north of Rome.

Called, playing with the name of the human-powered vehicle ("jinrikisha" in Japanese, "rickshaw" in English, "risciò" in Italian), Rishow, that is, a new show, like the one Paolo Rech sets up every time by improvising, modifying, inventing, adapting, interpreting, enriching, here too depending on time and space, on the audience and the hour, on the occasion and moods, perhaps even on the environment and latitude.

Fifty-five years old, from Alano di Piave in Veneto, less gigantic than his fellow townsman Dino Meneghin, indeed, invisible behind the scenes, Paolo Rech multiplies himself by splitting into four with his wooden puppets. These are the ones inherited from the commedia dell'arte: Pulcinella, Brighella, Doctor Balanzone. They are also those borrowed from daily life: a carabiniere. Jumping between dialects, alternating situations, acting on misunderstandings, exalting paradoxes, Rech captures children's attention and attracts parents' sympathy, accompanying and dragging them all into his story, through hiding places and conflicts, stratagems and liberations. Imaginative and pressing, quick and skilled, loaded and traditional, Rech is excellent.

If Paolo Rech's Rishow travels from Greece to England, from that devil Harlequin to the merchant of beatings, managing alone or organizing with a band, his rickshaw is capable of maneuvering through mud and venturing into the forest, hosting a circus (the three-fingered one) or welcoming a festival (the medieval one). The secret? It's in the small things. Like the handbrake. Just a hand. Look at the gallery photos. You'll find it. And it will bring you joy. And perhaps a bit of horror. A horrible joy. Or a joyful horror. Who knows.

"Stories in Sky and Earth" (Rodari had written "Nursery Rhymes in Sky and Earth", first published in 1960) is an event that this year saw its second edition. Conceived by Fernanda Pessolano, desired by the Municipality of Manziana, supported by the Lazio Region in collaboration with DMOBeltur, Manziana Agricultural University and municipal library, it takes place in the Bracciano Martignano Park.