Carmelo Bene Theatre Season

The theatre named after Carmelo Bene

In Campi Salentina, a town in the province of Lecce in the heart of Northern Salento, the historic Teatro Excelsior is now named after Carmelo Bene, the revolutionary actor, director, and playwright born just a stone's throw away. Every year, this intimate and welcoming space hosts the Theatre Season, a drama series that has made this small Salento town a key reference point for contemporary theatre in Puglia.

A network project: Teatri del Nord Salento

The season is curated by Factory Compagnia Transadriatica, a social enterprise and theatre production centre, as part of the Teatri del Nord Salento project. This is not just an isolated programme: the Campi Salentina line-up is part of a network involving the municipal theatres of Novoli, Leverano, Guagnano, Trepuzzi, and other local towns, supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Puglia Region, Puglia Culture, and TRAC – Teatri di Residenza Artistica Contemporanea.

What to expect

The hallmark of the festival is a human-centric theatre, capable of speaking to the present through stories that weave together identity, memory, civic engagement, and lightness. The programme features a variety of styles:

• monologues and narrative theatre;
• musical theatre and storytelling through song;
• sophisticated comedy and intelligent stand-up;
• performances addressing current affairs, inclusion, and rights.

Performances, typically held in the evening, take place in the Teatro Excelsior hall, with affordable ticket prices and discounts for young people, over-65s, and residents of the network's towns.

Why it's worth it

Going to the theatre in Campi Salentina means experiencing something rare: national-quality programming in a small-town setting, where the proximity between stage and audience makes every performance an intimate encounter. It is authorial theatre that leaves the big cities to reach deep into Salento, bringing names to the province that would fill the most prestigious theatres elsewhere.