Willem Dafoe

Alter NATIVE

Last year, in our program we concentrated on the body, the presence of the actor, and poetry beyond narrative. And I want to continue that exploration in this coming year’s edition. 

However, rather than presenting people whose work I knew, this year we have invited pieces from beyond Western commercial and institutional theatre circles. The lack of familiarity allows us to return to the roots of theatre, to reawaken the essential contact between artist and spectator.

For me, the strength and uniqueness of theatre – the total art form – is its directness, ritual and human meeting. In this truth-challenged world we have to return to taking our understanding and engagement from direct perception.

As a personal memory, when I was 19 years old. The American theatre company I was working with was invited to the Mickery Theatre in Amsterdam by the great Dutch producer Ritsaert ten Cate. I think one of the reasons he presented us was he felt we were sincere and authentic. If, perhaps not as dynamic as many of the international companies that were hosted there from 1965 to 1991. In the years I worked there on and off, I saw, Peter Brook, Bread and Puppet, TenjoSajiki, Meredith Monk, Squat Theatre, the People Show, among many many others. Works from different traditions and cultures challenged my usual way of seeing and gave me a new perspective to appreciate purely the essence of theatre. But I have seen this essence being corrupted. Over the last thirty years the professionalism of the arts has paradoxically flattened its soul in the race to meet standards, metrics and “industry expectations” much of the work has become overproduced, standardized, and predictable.

What once felt raw, urgent and personal now often feels polished to the point of sameness.

I miss the amateur spirit, not as a lack of skill but as a ground where risk, imperfection, and originality can breathe. It is in the cracks not in the polish where truly unique art lives.
I was also particularly inspired by the post-humous presentation of Koyo Kouoh’s Art Biennale and its title In Minor Keys, exploring authentic and vital art in other than usual places.
In search of work grown from a humanist/community base rather than a careerist/commercial one- we looked into communities where theatre serves a public to entertain, inspire and instill a sense of wonder and possibility, whose intentions are rooted in their own traditions but with the attempt to invite the future.

For this year’s edition my colleagues Valentina Alferj and Andrea Porcheddu and I have chosen the title ALTERNATIVE- or more precisely - ALTER NATIVE. There is no precise meaning as the etymology can be vague or evocative. The idea is to think ALTER as in change – NATIVE - as your nature. Or ALTER as in other – NATIVE - as the culture one is from. 

The programme
The 2026 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement goes to Emma Dante. A director and author who has brought her native Sicily to the fore courageously tackling uncomfortable and painful issues. From her debut in 2001, Dante has developed her own artistic vision, recognizable for its power and emotion. For Biennale Teatro, Emma Dante will present a new creation, I fantasmi di Basile, inspired by the fairy tales in Basile’s Lo cunto de li cunti. Also, we are happy to present a public meeting of former colleagues, artists, scholars, and critics to discuss her work and the state of theatre.

Mario Banushi, the Albanian-Greek director will be the recipient of our Silver Lion. Banushi, born in 1998, explores absence, loss and grief, expressed through rituals from his personal history and Balkan traditions of his upbringing. Banushi’s debut was Ragada, created and performed in his teacher’s apartment in Athens during the Pandemic. The next work, Goodbye Lindita premiered in 2023 at The National Theatre of Greece, and then, Taverna Miresia. These three works, under the title Romance Familiare, will be performed together for the first time. This trilogy will be presented by La Biennale in co-production with Fondation Cartier pour l’art comtemporain.

We will present works from theatre makers from Europe, India, China, Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Africa.

From Greece, Cries with Christos Stergioglou and Alexandros Drakos Ktistakis, an outdoor contemporary concert-performance that mixes poetry, song and ancient dramas that will be shown at Teatro Verde on San Giorgio island.

From India, Sharmila Biswas’ company performs Mischief Dance, a subtle reinvention of traditional Odissi dance.

The prestigious dance theatre collective, Bumi Purnati Indonesia, will show two pieces based on late 19th Century legends and texts – Under the Volcano, directed by Yusril Katil, and Hikayat Perahu / The Tale of Boat, directed by Sri Qadariatin.

From Rwanda Hewa Rwanda, Letter to the Absent by Dorcy Rugamba, a moving music theatre tribute to his family, who were killed in their home on the first day of Rwanda’s Genocide Against the Tutsi.

The acclaimed Samoan director Lemi Ponifasio will present Star Returning: Venice, tackling the rituals, struggles and traditions of the Chinese YI people.

The Japanese director Satoshi Miyagi, with his Shizuoka Performing Arts Center will perform Mugen-Noh Othello.

After his beautiful Pinocchio last year, Davide Iodice returns with a new project Promemoria staged with the residents of Venice’s elderly nursing home San Giobbe.

Silvia Costa will present the definitive version of Tacet by Jacopo Giacomoni.

In tribute to Robert Wilson the Biennale Archive will install an exhibition in the Sala delle Colonne at Ca’ Giustinian.

And as a special event: Angelique Kidjo, the great singer from Benin, will give us an intimate concert, with West Indian pianist Thierry Vaton.

After successfully hosting performances by the Accademia Silvio d’Amico and la Scuola del Teatro Nazionale di Napoli, this year our program will present shows directed by: Marco Plini, from Scuola Paolo Grassi di Milano, Giorgio Sangati, from the Scuola del Teatro Stabile del Veneto – Teatro Nazionale, and once again Arturo Cirillo with la Scuola del Teatro Nazionale di Napoli.

We will pursue the Biennale educational program presenting last year winners and a new open call for Direction and Playwriting under 30. This year the workshop in playwriting be held by Fabrizio Sinisi and the one on theatre criticism by Roberta Ferraresi together with Massimo Milella.

I am pleased to announce a new college for actors and actresses under 30 years old, 11 performers have been selected from a large international open call, to participate in a monthlong program, each week directed by a different mentor: which will be Simon McBurney, Evangelia and Mary Randou, Silvia Costa and myself.

That’s the program!

I really must thank President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, and directors Andrea Del Mercato and Debora Rossi for their trust and support, Francesca Benvenuti for her tireless attention and expertise, thanks to Flavia Fossa Margutti, Emanuela Caldirola and all the staff and technicians too numerous to name.

Lastly, I want to express a heartfelt thanks to my colleagues Valentina Alferj and Andrea Porcheddu, who have helped me greatly to shape and realize my vision for the 2026 Theatre Biennale.