Willem Dafoe calls for theatre beyond entertainment

In a world that seems to be becoming increasingly divisive, authoritarian, and violent, our challenge as theatre makers is to prevent theatre from being corrupted into a mere commercial enterprise devoted to entertainment through distraction, or into a dry institutional guardian of traditions. Rather, our challenge is to promote its power to connect peoples, communities, and cultures—and above all to question where we are heading, CE Report quotes ANSA.

This is the message from Willem Dafoe, current artistic director of the Theatre sector of the Venice Biennale, on the occasion of the 64th edition of World Theatre Day, established by UNESCO and celebrated on March 27.

“Socially and politically, theatre has never been so important and vital for our understanding of ourselves and the world.”

“As an actor and theatre maker, I continue to believe in the power of theatre,” Dafoe adds.

He was, among other things, a founding member of the avant-garde Wooster Group and has collaborated with Bob Wilson, Marina Abramović, Richard Foreman, and Romeo Castellucci. He also has a long film career, with four Oscar nominations and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival in 2018.

World Theatre Day was first celebrated in 1962 during the opening ceremony of the Theatre of Nations in Paris. Since then, every year an important figure from the international artistic and cultural scene is invited to share reflections on the meaning of this occasion. In Italy, the Day is organized by the Italian Centre of the International Theatre Institute – ITI UNESCO, based at Astràgali Teatro in Lecce and chaired by Fabio Tolledi.

“World Theatre Day,” Tolledi emphasizes, “represents a moment to pause and reflect on how important theatre and cultural production are in the lives of communities, of women and men living in a specific place at a given time.”