La Gerusalemme liberata

The Cambridge University Italian Society and Centro di Produzione Diaghilev present 

La Gerusalemme liberata

a monologue interpreted and directed by Paolo Panaro, adapted from Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso.

DATES & LOCATION

• Saturday, 13 June 2026, 6:00 pm
• Sunday, 14 June 2026, 6:00 pm

Keynes Lecture Theatre, King's College, Cambridge

The performance will be in Italian.

For more information about becoming a member of the CU Italian Society, please visit Becoming a Member – Cambridge University Italian Society or contact cuitaliansoc@gmail.com.

“Degne d’un chiaro sol, degno d’un pieno
teatro, opre sarìan sì memorande.”
Gerusalemme L. XII, 54

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Cambridge University Italian Society is delighted to present one of Paolo Panaro's most acclaimed and performed monologues, La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered) by Torquato Tasso.

The epic poem recounts the Christian siege of Jerusalem (1096–1099) and the tragic love story between Tancredi, a Christian knight, and Clorinda, a Muslim warrior.

This stage adaptation focuses primarily on the tragic and ill-fated love story between Tancredi and Clorinda. The script is an anthology of selected verses from Tasso’s poem, spanning Cantos I to XII and culminating in Clorinda’s death, interspersed with prose passages that summarise key events.

Performed entirely in verse, the production offers a rare opportunity to experience the rich musicality and rhythm of the Italian poetic tradition, illustrating how stories were once shared with public audiences through the power of hendecasyllable (eleven-syllable verse).

The performance will be in Italian and followed by a Q&A session with the actor.

The Cambridge University Italian Society gratefully acknowledges Compagnia Diaghilev for making this production possible.

SYNOPSIS

By divine will, Godfrey of Bouillon is appointed leader of the Crusaders and urges his army to resume the campaign to capture Jerusalem. Fierce battles rage as the Christian forces lay siege to the Holy City. Against this backdrop of war unfolds the unrequited love of Tancredi, a Crusader prince, for Clorinda, a beautiful Muslim warrior.

Meanwhile, Satan convenes the infernal council and resolves to thwart the Crusaders’ plans. Godfrey launches a powerful assault on Jerusalem’s walls with formidable siege engines and would have taken the city had nightfall not intervened.

Under the cover of darkness, a pagan warrior secretly leaves the city and sets fire to the Crusaders’ war machines. Tancredi confronts the mysterious attacker in a fierce duel. Victorious, the Christian knight hears his dying opponent ask to be baptized. As dawn breaks, Tancredi removes the warrior’s helmet and discovers, to his horror, that his fallen rival is none other than Clorinda—the woman he has loved with all his heart.

Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) is one of the most influential and complex figures in Italian literature. His life was marked by turbulent relationships with power, love, and fame, and these tensions are reflected throughout his work.

Completed in 1575, La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered) became an immediate success and is widely regarded as the last great masterpiece of the Italian chivalric epic tradition. At the same time, it represents a bold literary experiment. Drawing on nearly twenty years of reflection, Tasso departed from the adventurous romances of Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto in favor of a heroic epic grounded in historical events rather than pure fantasy.

Replacing the mythology of the classical world with the cosmological and spiritual imagination of Christianity, Tasso redefined the epic genre. His characters possess an unprecedented psychological depth and inner life, while the poem’s dramatic gestures and theatrical imagery anticipate later developments in both opera and modern psychological fiction.

With Jerusalem Delivered, Tasso not only transformed the epic tradition but also opened new paths for European literature, creating a work whose influence continues to resonate centuries later.

HOW TO GET THERE

Keynes Lecture Theatre, King's College

Access King's College from the Porters' Lodge on King's Parade (see map). The Keynes Lecture Theatre is located inside the Keynes Building.