Willem Dafoe confirmed as artistic director of Venice Biennale Teatro through 2028 after record edition

“To make theatre, figuratively speaking, means to exaggerate, to draw attention to oneself. Well, that is everything Willem Dafoe has not done in these two years of work at the Biennale. Dafoe brought to the Lagoon research, tradition, ritual and care. His programme focused on choral work, on theatre made with human flesh, with spirit and with sweat.”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to continue my work as director of the Biennale Teatro. These last two years of close involvement with the Biennale have allowed me to explore the power and magic of that total art which is theatre. I am honoured to continue my work with the President of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, with the entire dedicated team of the Venice Biennale and with Valentina Alferj and Andrea Porcheddu, building on the foundations laid in these first two years. A passionate exploration in which making theatre springs from a creative impulse and may have no explicit goal, but is fully committed and never loses sight of the conviction that the collective experience is what matters.”