The universal is the local without walls. – Miguel Torga

In a world increasingly torn apart by conflicts and imperialistic ambitions, in which the concepts of universal and international lose their positive connotations, the reference to Francisco Goya that Gianluca Costantini gifts us to pay homage to the Iberian Focus at the center of POLIS Teatro Festival 2025 inevitably recalls another work by the Spanish painter whose title could not be more topical: The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. And if the witches of our poster make fun of those who have shunned reason, this year’s festival does not stop drawing bridges between past and future through the languages of contemporary performing arts, to continue to reflect on the present and imagine new possible worlds together with artists, spectators, scholars, journalists and international professionals. Pursuing the utopia that a world without borders is still possible, as hoped for by Miguel Torga, the Portuguese author quoted at the head of this edition, we recall that the new focus comes significantly on the fortieth eve of the accession of Spain and Portugal to the European Community, and many of the events hosted will act as a springboard for reasoning about Europe and the world today.

This 8th edition opens with a great news: POLIS NEON, a special under35 section with total free access, on May 2nd-3rd at Artificerie Almagià, realized with the support of MiC and SIAE, as part of the “Per Chi Crea” program.

POLIS NEON, Greek for “the city of young people”, plays with the double meaning given by the word “neon”: it puts the polis in the hands of young people and “sheds light” on the performance research of four young groups that would otherwise be unlikely to find space on city stages. 

But it is from May 6 to 11 that we get into the heart of the festival, opening, as usual, the week at Teatro Rasi, with the artists chosen by Ravenna’s Visionari and offering POLIS audience another gift: for all the duration of the Iberian Focus it is possible to experience Corpos Celestes, the soundwalk created by El Conde de Torrefiel to reflect on what happens after we walk in the world, hosted with free access inside the evocative spaces of Ravenna’s Monumental Cemetery.

Among the other leading names on the international scene of the Iberian Peninsula, the two documentary theater companies Hotel Europa and Hermanas Picohueso take turns at Teatro Rasi, reflecting on dictatorships and the colonial past of their countries through a multidisciplinary and ironic approach; Rui Pina Coelho, playwright of the historic TEP – Teatro Experimental do Porto and university lecturer, gives us a performance-lecture on the artistic-political power of utopia. The Artificerie Almagià hosts the immersive-interactive theatrical experience of La Mecànica, which uses the Kalliópê app by the historic Fura dels Baus in a performance for teens and adults, in collaboration with students from the Liceo Artistico of Ravenna. At Teatro Socjale in Piangipane, the usual Sunday lunchtime event takes us into the world of cabaret and Copla through Alejandro Postigo’s queer approach. At the MAR – Museo d’Arte della Città di Ravenna a site-specific itinerant performance brings the Portuguese formation Os Possessos to confront the Ravenna-based Spazio A, as part of a project promoted by the festival to foster international collaboration among young artists. Also with a view to international exchange and the promotion of new European dramaturgy, two mise en espace by playwrights Joan Yago and Joana Bértholo have been commissioned, thanks to a new collaboration with PAV/Fabulamundi New Voices, to the companies Nerval Teatro and Teatro Onnivoro.

Among the Italian formations is the debut of the AriaTeatro company, from a text by award-winning Catalan author Marta Buchaca, and another event with the emerging scene, thanks to the national network In-Box, with the work of Annachiara Vispi, both at Teatro Rasi.

More than 35 events including performances and moments of confrontation, round tables among international artists, scholars and professionals, confirming the festival’s distinctive artistic proposal of European breath, bringing to the theater even people who for economic or social reasons usually do not set foot there and hundreds of under-30s, but also educational activities and participatory projects that develop throughout the year through valuable collaborations with the territory.

And it doesn’t end there. The festival will return on September 26th-27th with a third important event on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of ErosAntEros: a special project that will premiere in Ravenna our two new productions thanks to the support of the Special Projects in the Theatre Category 2025 of the Ministry of Culture, a celebration enriched by moments of discussion with scholars, journalists, operators and friends, who have nurtured our journey over the years. SAVE THE DATES AND STAY TUNED!