FILOMELA by Fulvia Cipollari
First performance in Lebanon
Gulbenkian Theatre, LAU – Beirut
October 14, 8:00 PM
Directed by Hanane Hajj Ali
After a series of international presentations – in close collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institutes – and the success of the sound installation staged at the Hotel Parco in Riccione last season, Filomela arrives in Lebanon for the first time, in a new production that renews its expressive intensity and transforms it into Lebanese Arabic.
Filomela – a work by young playwright Fulvia Cipollari, finalist of the 2021 Riccione Prize “Pier Vittorio Tondelli” – draws on mythical and poetic figures (from Ovid and poet Antonia Pozzi) to tell a story of power woven with tension, emotional violence, and silence.
At the center of the stage is a student and poet, in conflict with two dominant male figures: her father and a teacher. The dynamic between words, emotions, and control evolves into a tragic, irreversible conclusion.
Simone Bruscia, director of Riccione Teatro, has emphasized how this new dramaturgy is “multiform”: a kind of writing that coexists with diverse languages – installation, spoken word, sound, radio – able to inhabit different spaces and engage with contemporary theatrical innovation.
In this Beirut version, Filomela takes on a new life: the translation into Lebanese Arabic is not a mere linguistic transposition but a cultural re-signification. Hanane Hajj Ali’s direction aims to preserve the emotional depth of the original while drawing out the specific nuances and echoes of the Middle Eastern context. The ending will be a surprise.
The dramaturgical structure – marked by contrasts, breaks, pauses, and layering – invites the audience to participate actively. The protagonist’s inner world, her silences, tensions, and secrets unfold between speech and absence, memory and omission. Filomela, like a “shadow-body,” moves between resistance and vulnerability, questioning the relationship between voice and silence, between a claimed identity and the relationships that try to undermine it.
The play is part of the international project New Italian Plays in the World, launched by Riccione Teatro in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, aiming to bring new Italian playwriting to international stages.
————————————————————–
Hanane Hajj Ali (Beirut, 1958) is one of the most influential figures in contemporary Arab theatre. An actress, director, writer and cultural activist, she began her career in 1977 as a founding member of Théâtre Hakawati. She holds a degree in theatre and biology, and has combined art and social engagement, addressing issues such as female identity, religion, war and collective memory.
Her best-known work, Jogging: Theatre in Progress, is a hybrid monologue between autobiography, myth and Lebanese reality, internationally awarded with the Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award (2021), Best Actor award at OFF Edinburg Festival (2017), and Audience prize at Almada Theatre Festival 2023).
She teaches theatre studies at various Lebanese universities, and is active in cultural research and the formulation of cultural policies in the Arab world. She is co-founder of organizations such as SHAMS and Al Mawred Athaqafy, and has been awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Her work unites artistic rigor and activism, promoting a critical, accessible theatre deeply rooted in contemporary reality.