«I am fascinated by the ways a story can be told – explains Pier Lorenzo Pisano, associated artist at the Piccolo Teatro –. Legends, in particular, express all that identifies us as humans; love, passion, instinct and familiar ties.» 
Divided in two sections, Semidei draws inspiration from the body of minor legends that accompany the Iliad and the Odyssey. In the first part, before the Trojan War, extremely young and terrified heroes are tied up in their most important relationships: Achilles quarrels with his mother Thetis, Ulysses has his hands full with a young Telemachus who is constantly crying and who never eats, Hector and Andromache trying to get their newborn baby to sleep, and many others. Above them all, the gods of Olympus, who are more quarrelsome and nonsensical than the humans. Ten years later, the Greeks have won, but they have forgotten the reason for their fight; they are dazed and battered survivors, like the soldiers of present-day conflicts. 
Semidei draws on a universal tale to examine contemporary life and to try an understand how to survive that which comes to an end: the end of infancy; the end of a war; the death of children.
The text of the play is published by Einaudi in the Collezione di teatro series.