Ten days of performances with some of the finest names on the international scene: Ute Lemper, heir to the expressionist theatre of Brecht-Weill who will inaugurate the 42nd International Theatre Festival of the Biennale di Venezia on August 2nd; Angélica Liddell, one of the greatest revelations in recent years with her personal version of Shakespeare’s Richard III; David Espinosa and his provocative “minimalism”, an example of theatre in times of crisis. And more: the art-theatre of Krystian Lupa; the biting reinterpretations of the classics by Thomas Ostermeier; the technological “writing” of Guy Cassiers; the oneiric world of Gabriela Carrizo and Peeping Tom; the vitality of Argentine theatre, the newest discovery of recent years, with Claudio Tolcachir; the fertile synthesis between the different arts according to Jan Lauwers; Shakespeare revisited by Tim Crouch through the minor characters in his plays, brought to the stage by Fabrizio Arcuri; and finally Declan Donnellan, one of the most influential European directors to have taken on the great classics of dramaturgy from all over the world.

he 42nd Festival will also present 8 original creations from the Biennale College – Theatre, developed in workshops by the many young artists selected to work with the great masters of the stage. The result is Shakespeare, an itinerary in 5 short productions about Shakespearian characters, selected and interpreted according to the radically diverging approaches of 5 directors - Angélica Liddell, Claudio Tolcachir, Gabriela Carrizo, Jan Lauwers, Krystian Lupa. It has also led to the creation of the new site-specific versions, developed for the spaces and with the participants in the Venetian workshops, of the performances by Motus, Nella Tempesta, and La Veronal, Los pájaros muertos. And to the creation of Natura e origine della mente, elaborated by Romeo Castellucci with the 20 actors and performers of his Venetian workshop.