Residencies

• 07.09 > 19.09.2026
• 10.08 > 28.08.2026

“Just over half a cen­tu­ry after the genre’s hey­day, we feel it is time to make a new spa­ghet­ti wes­tern. At a moment when vio­len­ce and aggres­si­on bom­bard us from all sides, whi­le at the same time eve­ry blow in fic­ti­on see­ms to requi­re a trig­ger warning, we want to scru­ti­ni­ze the hypo­cri­sy of Western poli­cy, the new impe­ri­a­lism, the (gro­wing taboo around) vio­len­ce, and the new (puri­ta­ni­cal) mora­li­ty that attempts to mask the West’s gla­ring lack of ethics, through a the­a­tri­cal spa­ghet­ti wes­tern in 2026.” (Aurelie Di Marino)

With Spaghetti Western, per­for­mers and the­a­tre makers Aurelie Di Marino, Renée Goethijn, Femke Stallaert, Michiel Soete, Oscar Briou, Edoardo Ripani, Oxana Sankova, Atta Nasser, Nona Buhrs, Roel Faes, Paola Bartoletti, Yuni Mahieu, Giovanni Barcella, Kaat Arnaert, Tomas Pevenage, and Anthony Chang draw inspi­ra­ti­on from the Italian film gen­re of the same name, the sub­ver­si­ve coun­ter­part to the clas­sic American Western that rea­ched its peak in the late 1960s.

Amid dir­ty pla­tes, emp­ty bott­les, and shat­te­red glas­ses, a world of cow­boys, out­laws, heroes, and anti­heroes unfolds. Someone’s head is smas­hed in, just becau­se. Christ’s cross is bla­sted apart, and from its frag­ments a duel emer­ges. Beginning with a pro­lo­gue steeped in vio­len­ce and cli­ché, Spaghetti Western expo­ses the hypo­cri­sy of con­tem­po­ra­ry neo-impe­ri­a­list Western poli­cies. The result is a sati­ri­cal, epic-his­to­ri­cal decon­struc­ti­on of our (so cal­l­ed) post­war history.