Willem Dafoe on His First Venice Biennale Theater Program, With Whirling Dervishes and a Homage to Avant-Garde Icon Richard Foreman (That He Will Perform Himself)

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Theatre is Body – Body is Poetry” is the title chosen by Willem Dafoe for his first edition as artistic director of the Venice Biennale‘s International Theatre Festival, which kicks off May 31 with the European premiere of the revival of the Wooster Group’s “Symphony of Rats.” The lineup assembled by Dafoe for the fest – which runs through June 15 – stems from his own experiences and influences, and ranges from a Whose Who of big experimental theatre names such as the Odin Teatret, Italy’s Romeo Castellucci, Germany’s Thomas Ostermeier, and Switzerland’s Milo Rau, to emerging talents like Afro-Belgian multidisciplinary artist Princess Bangura who will present two solo shows: “Oedipus Monologue” and “Great Apes of the West Coast.” Dafoe speaks to Variety from Venice about assembling his lineup and deciding to personally participate with a homage to late great New York experimental theater guru Richard Foreman, who died in January. What are some of the discoveries that are part of your program? One is Davide Iodice’s “Pinocchio – What is a Person,” which I saw in Naples.

I mean, it’s by someone who is very accomplished. But I wasn’t familiar with his work. Then there’s also some emerging artists whom I simply did not know.

Between the Biennale staff and the people who are working with me, I was led to some of those people and got educated. Talk to me about this “Pinocchio“ Naples is a great theater city.

But I’ve never been amid an audience where I felt like they are so much with the performance. One of the things that’s special about the piece is it’s beautifully designed, beautifully made, and most of the performers are children with special needs.