Capossela and Capovilla: the ballad opera "E Morte non avrà dominio" debuts on stage. All the tour dates

Vinicio Capossela brings “E Morte non avrà dominio” to the theatre, his first “ballad opera”, a show that weaves together music, spoken word and drama, alongside Pierpaolo Capovilla. The tour will open on 3 and 4 October at the Teatro Olimpico in Rome, as part of the Romaeuropa Festival, before travelling across Italy until it wraps up on 21 December at the Teatro Verdi in Florence. It will be a deliberately short-lived production, limited to a single theatrical season.
The project builds on the path Capossela began with the radio drama “Sotto il bosco di latte”, broadcast by Rai Radio3 and inspired by “Under Milk Wood”, Dylan Thomas's poem for voices. At the heart of the show are also fifteen new Capossela songs, performed live for the first time and set to appear on his next album, expected in January 2027.

“E Morte non avrà dominio” marks the first foray by the Hannover-born singer-songwriter into the form of the ballad opera: the songs don't simply function as accompaniment or a sequence of musical numbers, but become part of the dramatic structure, taking shape alongside the characters and intertwining with words, voices and stage presences.
The work is dedicated to the memory of Renato Striglia, a friend of Capossela's and a radio DJ who died prematurely, who had spent years working on an Italian version of “Under Milk Wood” without ever completing it. Out of that project comes a show that celebrates life, innocence, plurality and the sense of community through the inhabitants of Llareggub, the imaginary seaside village created by Dylan Thomas.

“The Ballad Opera we're presenting here, like the radio drama before it, and the songs — it all stems from a death. From a seed gathered that must go beyond that death in order to grow”, says Capossela, who identifies friendship as one of the work's central themes. A friendship that carries with it “a series of things fallen out of use: rock'n'roll, the epic of failure, the love of bad teachers, mutiny, sabotage, rebellion, thunderous solitude, feline nature, anarchism”.
Into this universe steps Pierpaolo Capovilla, frontman of Teatro degli Orrori, called upon to share with Capossela a story of friendship, community and the “epic of failure”. On stage, alone but for a cat and lying in a tub resembling Noah's ark, Capovilla becomes at once guide, castaway and keeper of memory, haunted by the figures of Renato Striglia, Dylan Thomas and Captain Cat, the blind sailor at the centre of the Welsh writer's poem. Around him, the characters, obsessions and ghosts of Llareggub take shape, while the dialogue between narration and song turns the theatre into a space populated by apparitions and distant echoes.

Alongside Capossela and Capovilla will be musicians, opera singers, performers and recorded voices, brought together to form an ever-shifting stage community. “This is a work about innocence, about the lost Eden, about community”, explains Capossela, evoking Thomas's idea of a village collectively regarded as mad precisely because it is inhabited by individuals free to simply be who they are.
The show is produced by IMARTS, Fondazione Teatro Due Parma and La Cùpa, in collaboration with Romaeuropa Festival. The texts and music are by Vinicio Capossela, while direction, staging, sound design and lighting are handled by the La Cùpa collective. On stage, alongside Capossela and Capovilla, are Vincenzo Vasi, Alessandro “Asso” Stefana, Raffaele Tiseo, Riccardo Loda, Irene Sciacovelli, Elvis Zini and Gaia Barco.

The tour calendar: all the dates for “E Morte non avrà dominio”

October 3 and 4, 2026 – Rome, Teatro Olimpico – Romaeuropa Festival
October 9 and 10, 2026 – Parma, Teatro Due
October 14, 2026 – Ancona, Teatro delle Muse
October 21, 2026 – Naples, Teatro Augusteo
October 24, 2026 – Catanzaro, Teatro Politeama Mario Foglietti
November 1 and 2, 2026 – Milan, Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber
November 4 and 5, 2026 – Genoa, Politeama Genovese
November 8 and 9, 2026 – Cagliari, Teatro Massimo
November 11, 2026 – Sassari, Teatro Comunale
November 18, 2026 – Como, Teatro Sociale
November 22 and 23, 2026 – Turin, Teatro Colosseo
December 2, 2026 – Bologna, Teatro Duse
December 5, 2026 – Assisi, Teatro Lyrick
December 6, 2026 – Rimini, Teatro Galli
December 19, 2026 – Livorno, Teatro Goldoni
December 21, 2026 – Florence, Teatro Verdi

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