Semele

Jupiter’s jealous spouse, Juno, only adds fuel to the fire of Semele’s ambition—but this leads her to ruin. The mortal Semele has nothing to protect her from Jupiter's searing presence. Semele must perish, while Jupiter goes on…
Barrie Kosky shows the gods to be just as entangled as human beings in the rules they have created for themselves, thus bringing gods and humans closer together.

Semele enjoys the pleasures of love. Jupiter’s wife Juno hears about her husband’s new lover from her messenger Iris. She is consumed with jealousy. Semele loves Jupiter beyond all measure but is painfully aware of an insurmountable barrier between herself and the god. Jupiter is troubled by this and does all he can to distract Semele.

– Interval –

Aided by Somnus, the god of sleep, Juno appears to Semele as her sister Ino, whispering that she can become immortal if she sees Jupiter just once in his true, divine form. At their next rendezvous, Semele demands maximum fulfilment. Jupiter is unable to dissuade the woman he loves so much and she is burnt to death in the supreme deity’s fiery rays. Jupiter proclaims through Apollo that Dionysus, god of ecstasy, shall rise from her ashes. Ino and Athamas become the new royal couple and their wedding is joyously celebrated.