The Legend of Europa

It had been almost a year since we were last together. We came together again with a mission: to immerse ourselves once more in the myth, to explore it, and to invoke the Gods in order to create our performance. But how might we embark on this return ? From the very beginning, THE LEGEND OF EUROPA project was structured in three stages, in three different places, to explore the different parts of the myth of Europa. In May 2025, during our residency in Sligo, Ireland, we spent a week working on the stories rooted in Phoenicia – present-day Lebanon. Then, in July 2025, in Bologna, we explored the Athenian part of the myth. Finally, in July 2026, in Paris, we came together again to work on the sections set in Crete : the island to which Zeus takes Europa, the Phoenician princess, after abducting her. Bringing Myth and the Present into Dialogue   Our work drew on the Théâtre du Soleil’s methodologies: starting from improvisation, searching collectively, experimenting, and buildi...

 Just a few more days until our session in Paris… We’re feeling both joy and excitement at the thought of seeing everyone again, along with a touch of nervousness about the work ahead. This time, we’ll be the ones leading the way. We’ve already received a number of visions and images shared by our friends. Will they prove useful? They already have-they’ve given us a starting point and helped us move forward. We’ll of course continue to work “as we did at the Sun” , exploring both the stories of Crete and the scientific questions they inspire. Keeping one foot in legend and myth, and the other firmly rooted in the present. How can we achieve that? And above all, how can we preserve a spirit of collective creativity within such a limited timeframe? And what about the dance steps? Will we still remember them in Stockholm? Will they come in handy? And the gods, will they be with us? The gods of the theatre, and all the others… We must keep that sense of sacred awe. Not look at the moun...

A new short film by Thomas Briat documents the second phase of The Legend of Europa , the international theatre project supported by Creative Europe. After the first residency in Sligo , artists gathered in Bologna in July 2025 to deepen their creative exploration. This new chapter shifts the focus toward Athens , not as a geographical setting, but as a symbolic and political reference point. For the Italian team, Athens represents the birthplace of democracy : the city of Pericles, of public discourse, of justice, inclusion, and civic participation. Yet, the film makes it clear from the outset that these ideals are not treated as fixed truths, but as tensions to be questioned. The creative process documented in the film places strong emphasis on collective physical work. Rather than relying on text, the group develops choral scenes where the body, rhythm, and atmosphere become central. Storytelling emerges through movement and presence, often prioritizing emotional and spatial dynam...

Performing Possibility is a European youth project that brought together young people and cultural organisations from Ireland and Italy to reflect on what it means to live in Europe today. Through theatre, digital creativity and shared experience, participants explored ideas of belonging, identity and community across borders. This conversation captures voices from one of the project’s international exchanges in Bologna, bringing together perspectives from Italy, Ireland and Afghanistan. Speaking together are Brenda Musiani (Opera di Padre Marella), Rowan Mohan (YMCA Cork), and Om Hani and Hosna Yalani, two young sisters now living in Italy. Their dialogue reflects the spirit of The Legend of Europa : listening across cultures, sharing lived experiences, and imagining a more inclusive European future. Brenda:  I will start with some questions. What did you expect from the project? What was your idea of the project at the beginning?  Rowan:  I think it was a way of captu...

  A short film by Thomas Briat is now online, offering the first insight into The Legend of Europa, our collaborative theatre project funded by the European Union as part of Creative Europe . This first episode opens a journey that blends epic storytelling with contemporary reflection, bringing viewers to the very roots of European civilization. The video documents the initial stage of the creative process during the first gathering of artists at Sligo’s Factory Performance Space , held from May 12 to 18, 2025. Over seven days, artists from diverse countries and cultural backgrounds came together to share languages, perspectives, and creative practices. They explored classical Greek narratives in relation to contemporary social and political realities, focusing on themes of myth, migration, and the evolving identities of Europe. Through collective exercises, improvisation, and individual presentations inspired by classical art, participants experimented with new forms of storytel...

I pick up the thread of the story from my dear colleague Shadaan Felfeli, who brought us the diary from Sligo . It is now my task to tell you about the second phase of the project , this time “at home,” in Italy , from July 21 to 27, at the Teatro dell’Argine headquarters, the ITC Teatro of San Lazzaro. From the very start, I want to thank the entire staff of Teatro dell’Argine for their extraordinary hospitality and warm welcome. I am Sanam Naderi , Cre-Actor of the Italian group. Meeting the group again after almost two months — since May, when we had parted with great joy in Sligo — and seeing each other once more, full of enthusiasm , in Bologna, was very moving . The absence of the Brazilian actress from the Irish group, Tatiana dos Santos , in this second phase was a hard blow. The long waiting times for the Irish residence permit , which would allow her to leave and re-enter the country without problems, prevented her from being with us in this phase. Her absence — just lik...

Preparing the Creative Workshop in Bologna curated by Teatro dell’Argine Here in Athens, we do things this way. Our government favours the many instead of the few: that is why it is called a democracy. [...] Our laws provide equal justice for all [...] and poverty is no obstacle [...] We are free to live exactly as we please [...] Our city is open to the world, and we never expel a foreigner. Here in Athens, we do things this way. — Pericles, Speech to the Athenians on Democracy, 431 BCE Europa and Athens The Bologna — more precisely San Lazzaro — session of The Legend of Europa will draw inspiration from the part of the myth that unfolds in and around the city of Athens. King Aegeus has made a terrible pact with another king, Minos: to avoid the destruction of his city, he agrees to send every year seven young men and seven young women to Crete, to be sacrificed to the monster held in the Labyrinth of Knossos — the Minotaur. This creature, called Asterion, is none other than the son ...

Alongside THE LEGEND OF EUROPA, Border Crossings and Teatro dell’Argine are also collaborating on a Youth project under the Erasmus + programme, called PERFORMING POSSIBILITY, together with the YMCA in Cork and Opera di Padre Marella in Bologna.  Although this is a self-contained project in its own right, PERFORMING POSSIBILITY is also proving hugely helpful in researching material for the professional theatre work.   The young people in Cork, many of whom live in very remote rural areas of the county, have little experience of European travel, and few opportunities to encounter people their own age who live in different countries and diverse communities, particularly migrants and refugees. The young people at Opera di Padre Marella have often faced huge challenges in their journeys to Italy, and continue to encounter prejudice and bureaucratic difficulties as they attempt to forge new lives in Europe. The encounter between these very different groups is hugely valuable i...

I was asked to write this post in the week following our workshop in Sligo. It is an impressionistic account, written before the dust has had a chance to settle.   From Monday 12th to Sunday 18th May, Blue Raincoat Theatre Company generously shared with us their home at the Factory Performance Space in Sligo (which is also the Registered Office of the more nomadic Border Crossings). Each morning Sandra O’Malley (Cre-Actor, Border Crossings team) welcomed us through the doors and we had the run of the place for the day. There was uninterrupted sunshine for the seven days we spent exploring mythic narratives with settings in present day Greece and along the Mediterranean coast of Türkiye and Lebanon. We made much use of the theatre’s warm courtyard which has along one of its sides the studio of the sculptor Bettina Seitz. Through its large windows were visible various wax sculptures of the draped outlines of figures. In 2020, her ‘Underwave’ installation had featured such sculptures ...

THE LEGEND OF EUROPA begins outside Europe (at least as the continent’s geography is conventionally understood), on the beach at Tyre, in modern Lebanon, on the Eastern edge of the Mediterranean. Our journey with the story begins on the other side of the continent, at its extremest West, in the town of Sligo on the Wild Atlantic Way. This feels appropriate. Europa’s name derives from ancient Greek, and implies a wide gaze, looking beyond the self. Europe has always been defined by that which is outside it, or on its edges. It is a continent with a history of reaching out beyond itself; a space which many from outside crave to enter, while others arrive by dint of force or despair. Our continent is named after a woman from western Asia who was kidnapped and raped by our white gods. I’ve wanted to make this piece for more than 20 years, ever since Josip Rainer sent me his gloriously insightful paper called Europa: negotiating border myths for contemporary playwrighting. It could have bee...

The Project The Legend of Europa is a new, international collaboration, building on the success of the 2020-22 Cre-Actors project, which explored different approaches to devising intercultural performance. The partner organisations from that project were: Border Crossings (Ireland) Teatro dell’Argine (Italy) Théâtre du Soleil (France) The Fence (Sweden) For The Legend of Europa, we are joined by Riksteatern , the National Touring Theatre of Sweden. We chose to explore the EUROPA myth, because it seems particularly pertinent at the present time, when right across our continent there are intense debates about the nature of national and European identities. Migration and diversity have become the focus for impassioned rhetoric, whether in favour of compassion towards refugees and trafficked workers, or in reaction against perceived threats to culture, order and prosperity. Our project goes back to the foundational myth of our continent, in order to explore its current turmoil. Europa ...

  Cre-Actors comes to an end! Words from the project participants, waiting for future adventures to come And so, as every beautiful journey, our Cre-Actors’ project has almost come to its end. The incredible richness not only of the processes and practices shared, but of the participants met and of the partners involved is present and told: first of all in our beautiful ebook (which you can read here https://issuu.com/border-crossings/docs/cre-actors_e-book ); then in the Cre-Actors blog ( https://cre-actors.blogspot.com/ ) and Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/creactorserasmusplus ); and finally on the websites and social media of all the partners. But the way we want to tell you goodbye is through some of the reflections and impressions given at the end of the process by all the participants in their reports and comments (starting from myself): the diversity of perspectives, ideas, backgrounds of this small but great community is what made the process and the project s...