Directed by Marcella Favilla

Set and Costume Design: Sara Bianchi
Music: Massive Attack
Lighting Design: Giuseppe Filippone
Assistant Directors: Chiara Anzelmo and Lorenza Molina
Movement Direction: Fabrizio Federici

Presented by Associazione Culturale Aletheia Teatro
Artistic Director: Carla Guido

Free admission, subject to venue capacity

The myth of Circe is reimagined through a contemporary female perspective, transforming her journey into a story of self-discovery, personal growth and emancipation. Solitude becomes strength, while passion gives way to self-awareness.

The narrative focuses on Circe before her encounter with Odysseus.

Daughter of Helios, the Sun God, and the Oceanid Perse, Circe is unlike the other gods: restless, independent and deeply attuned to human suffering. It is precisely this nature that leads to her exile on the island of Aeaea, where, in isolation, she gradually shapes her own identity. There she studies the healing properties of plants, learns to master the natural world and develops her extraordinary powers.

A complex and deeply contradictory figure, Circe experiences love, rivalry and fear before facing the defining choice of her life: whether to remain among the immortals or embrace the world of mortals she has learned to love.

In Greek mythology, Circe is both ambiguous and multifaceted—cruel yet compassionate, hostile yet protective. She is woman, nymph, enchantress, lover and wife, embodying the many dimensions of the feminine experience. Remarkably modern in her complexity, she emerges as a timeless symbol of freedom, transformation and identity.

Harmonies on Stage | MITIKA – Teatro e Mito nella contemporaneità

CIRCE: LE ORIGINI forms part of MITIKA – Teatro e Mito nella contemporaneità, the Festival's theatre programme within Harmonies on Stage, presented by Associazione Culturale Aletheia Teatro under the artistic direction of Carla Guido.

The programme also features DEDALO E ICARO, OLTRE IL VOLO and AGAMENNONE—three productions that restore the enduring relevance of classical myth, transforming it into a living language through which to interpret the contemporary world. Icarus and Daedalus, Agamemnon and Circe transcend time to engage once again with the present, embodying enduring tensions between the individual and society, destiny and free will, vulnerability and redemption.

This performance forms part of Armonie del Mediterraneo – Viaggi, Miti e Ritorni, conceived and presented by the Euro-Mediterranean Cultural Heritage Agency in collaboration with the Municipality of Lecce, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Tourism under the National Tourism Fund (FUNT) – 2025 Current Expenditure Programme (CUP F89I25002020001).