Biennale Teatro 2026

ALTER native, the title of the 54th International Theatre Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, bears within it the “fertile tension” that prompted Artistic Director Willem Dafoe’s initial idea. On the one hand, alter – “the other” in Latin – implies a two-way, dialectical relationship characterised by opposition and difference; on the other, native calls into question the notion of origin and cultural belonging. Taken as a whole, this semantic oscillation becomes a very specific word: alternative. This duality differs and deviates from the norm, and emphasises the purpose of a Festival that is committed to theatre as both an ancient and contemporary clash with the human condition; a remote yet ever-present instinct that has the power to regenerate by returning to the sources of ritual, community, the combined presence of the actors’ and spectators’ bodies – and by the passing on of knowledge acquired primarily through experience.

Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, President of La Biennale di Venezia

ALTER native is not meant as a precise definition. It is deliberately evocative. Alter suggests change, the possibility that an encounter might transform you, while native refers to what is rooted in your own culture. At the same time, alter also points to the “other”. The title therefore speaks about encounters between cultures – moments when what is unfamiliar enters into dialogue with you and becomes a catalyst for transformation.
This idea is very close to my own experience of theatre. As a young actor working in Europe, I discovered how powerful it could be to encounter artists from very different traditions. Those encounters helped me understand more clearly what theatre can be. Today this feels particularly important. Under commercial and institutional pressure theatre sometimes risks becoming too self-contained. Yet theatre is a total art form: it draws on movement, image, music, space and voice, and on influences from many cultures.

Willem Dafoe, Artistic Director of the Theatre Department

Texts taken from ALTER NATIVE, catalogue of the 54th International Theatre Festival - La Biennale di Venezia 2026