INDA Announces 61st Season at Syracuse Greek Theatre

The 61st season of the INDA (Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico) at the Greek Theatre of Syracuse will open on May 8, 2026, with Euripides' Alcestis, translated by Elena Fabbro and co-produced with the Teatro Stabile del Veneto. Filippo Dini, director of the latter, will also direct and play the role of Ferete. On May 9, Sophocles' Antigone will be staged, directed by Robert Carsen, concluding his personal Theban cycle after successes with Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. On June 13, Catalan director Àlex Ollé will debut with Aeschylus' The Persians, translated by Walter Lapini. A fourth production, the Iliad, co-produced with the Archaeological Park of Syracuse, will have two runs: from April 13 to 16 for schools, featuring young actors from INDA's theatre school and the Peparini Academy; and from June 14 to 27 at the Greek Theatre, with Vinicio Marchioni as the Aoidos and Giuseppe Sartori as Achilles. The season's theme is 'transgression,' exploring the concept that existence is confined within necessary limits that must not be crossed. The Persians, the oldest surviving Greek play, recounts the Persian defeat at Salamis (480 BCE) from the perspective of the defeated, focusing on the hubris of King Xerxes. Antigone presents the conflict between human law (Creon's edict) and divine law, with Antigone burying her brother Polynices despite the death penalty. Alcestis tells the story of a woman who chooses to die for her husband and returns from the dead.