Euripides’ Alcestis, Sophocles’ Antigone and Aeschylus’s The Persians. Perhaps never before has the National Institute of Ancient Drama Foundation produced three shows of dramatic relevance this year.
«Alcestis is scary because it is the story of a woman who, driven by the blissful fury of her love for her husband, chooses to die in his place. I can’t help but think of the woman’s journey through history, of her tragic daily deaths, of her possibility of coming back from the horror and being able to face the object of her infinite love” explains the director, Filippo Dini. «The conflict between morality and state authority is at the center of the work – explains Robert Carsen, director of Antigone -: we continue to encounter weak and dictatorial politicians like Creon, politicians who try to govern through fear. Obsessed with themselves and their own interests, without any plan for the good of others. The Greeks teach us that only love can break the vicious circle of hatred and misunderstanding.” Finally Àlex Ollé, director of The Persians: «Wars, politics, power and collective pain. The Persians tells of the confusion of a people and their rulers in the face of a brutal and unexpected defeat. It is the tragedy of those who have to deal with the present and imagine future survival after having made the fatal mistake of believing themselves invincible. The heart of our reading is the illusion of the perpetuity of power.”
The 61st season of the Inda at the Greek theater in Syracuse, from 13 April to 28 June, presents many surprises: as the president of the Foundation, Francesco Italia, recalled, in the Spadolini room of the Ministry of Culture, in the presence of the superintendent Daniele Pitteri, «for the first time in its more than one hundred year history, the Inda presents a preview of Homer’s Iliad, directed by Giuliano Peparini, reserved for schools with four performances in scene from April 13th to 16th. The show will be performed by students and former students of the Inda theater school and by performers and students of the Peparini Academy.”
After the new record of spectators recorded in 2025 with over 172 thousand presences, the Season, whose manifesto is signed by Michelangelo Pistoletto, will open on 8 May with Alcestis by Euripides, translated from the Greek by Elena Fabbro staged in co-production with the Teatro Stabile del Veneto by its director, Filippo Dini, who will also play the role of Ferete. The music is written by Paolo Fresu who will perform it live for the premiere of the show. Deniz Ozdogan will play the title role. Sophocles’ Antigone will debut on May 9th. After the great successes with Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus, Robert Carsen closes his personal journey in Thebes. The translation is by Francesco Morosi, Camilla Semino Favro plays Antigone while Paolo Mazzarelli plays Creon. On June 13, Àlex Ollé, a Catalan director among the founders of the Fura dels Baus, will make his debut at the Greek Theater and will direct Aeschylus’ Persians in the translation by Walter Lapini. The cast includes Anna Bonaiuto in the role of Queen Atossa, Alessio Boni (for the first time in Syracuse) as the ghost of Dario, Giuseppe Sartori will be the messenger, Massimo Nicolini Serse.
«The public will be able to follow the shows in English, French and Spanish thanks to the simultaneous translation guaranteed through artificial intelligence. Furthermore, the collaboration with the Ragusa special teaching structure of the University of Catania, which allowed the translation of the texts in 2024 into Japanese, and of the texts in 2025 into Arabic and Hebrew, this year, thanks to the Eastern Mediterranean University Consortium, will ensure the Chinese language version” explained Marina Valensise, Inda delegate councilor.
The fourth production, the Iliad, co-produced in collaboration with the Archaeological Park of Syracuse, will be presented from 13 to 16 April for four dates reserved for schools; from 14 to 27 June they will return to the stage in the role of Aedo Vinicio Marchioni, and in the role of Achille Giuseppe Sartori. In the role of Priam Alessio Boni. The translation of the verses taken from the Iliad is by Francesco Morosi, the music by Beppe Vessicchio, who recently passed away and to whom director Peparini dedicated the show: «The Iliad is not just a war story, but an ever-present reflection on the human being. It is a work that speaks of honor, power and violence, but also of the search for meaning, memory and fragility: themes that cross all eras” said Peparini. The Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, recalled: «The well-deserved success of the National Institute of Ancient Drama is the result of uncommon planning and operational capabilities demonstrated in recent years. The National Institute of Ancient Drama has the task of safeguarding, passing on and reviving an essential element of our tradition, that is, of our future.”