Within a family, the husband’s habitual violence against his wife escalates one day into femicide: he kills her by striking her head with an iron object. The woman lies on the floor, dead, but her death is not enough—no one believes it.
Thus, like the angel of the hearth whose grotesque image traps her, she rises and resumes her daily routine: cleaning the house, preparing meals, caring for her son and her elderly mother-in-law.
Each morning, the family finds her dead and does not believe it. Each morning, she rises again and resumes life in a cycle of violence and suffering. Each evening, she dies once more, as if caught in a circle of hell where the sentence never ends.
In the dim light of a sleeping house, the angel shakes the edges of her dress and tries to fly—but she is allowed only the intention of flight.
A harrowing performance in which domestic violence becomes an endless cycle, repeating itself like a lucid nightmare. Scenic elements and costumes: Emma Dante
Lights: Cristian Zucaro
Tour manager: Sandra Ghetti
Organisation: Daniela Gusmano
International management: Aldo Miguel Grompone, Rome
Production: Compagnia Sud Costa Occidentale / Carnezzeria
Cast:
Leonarda Saffi – the wife
Ivano Picciallo – the husband
David Leone – their son
Giuditta Perriera – the mother-in-law
Coproduction: Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa / Teatro di Napoli – Teatro Nazionale / Châteauvallon‑Liberté Scène Nationale / Les Célestins Théâtre de Lyon / Comédie de Clermont‑Ferrand / La Scène Nationale d'ALBI‑Tarn / Le Cratère, Scène Nationale d'Alès en Cévennes / L'Estive, scène nationale de Foix et de l'Ariège / Théâtre + Cinéma Scène nationale Grand Narbonne / Théâtre de l'Archipel, scène nationale de Perpignan / Théâtre Molière, Sète – Scène Nationale Archipel de Thau / Le Parvis, scène nationale de Tarbes Pyrénées
Performance in Italian and Puglia dialect, with Romanian and English translation