The 2026 Ipazia Award for Female Excellence goes to Julia Varley.

A voice that transcends borders: the 2026 Ipazia Award for Female Excellence goes to Julia Varley.

Theatre is not merely a physical space; it is a bastion of memory, encounter, resistance, and lineage. It is something that endures, even after the lights dim and the curtain falls.

When the theatre community gathers to celebrate an extraordinary career, the event transcends a simple awards ceremony and transforms into an act that is both political and poetic. This is precisely the case with the 2026 “Ipazia Theatre Award,” presented as part of the 22nd edition of the “Festival dell’Eccellenza al Femminile” (Festival of Female Excellence).

This year, the prestigious honor went to Julia Varley-actress, director, author, and a pivotal figure of Odin Teatret. She is a woman who has dedicated her entire life to theatre, traversing not only its most visible realms but, above all, its most hidden ones.

The award, established as part of the Genoa-based festival directed by Consuelo Barilari, pays tribute to Ipazia of Alexandria-a scientist and philosopher who symbolizes self-determination, intellectual freedom, and resistance against all forms of obscurantism.

It is a name that seems to align naturally with the trajectory of Julia Varley herself, an artist who has made exploration, freedom, and the act of giving a voice to the voiceless the guiding threads of her life.

Upon learning of the award, Varley responded with simple, almost intimate words: “I accept the award with joy; thank you for thinking of me. Much of my work flows through underground currents that receive little official recognition, so I feel doubly grateful.”

Perhaps it is precisely in those underground currents that the key to understanding her career lies. Julia Varley chose a form of theatre that never needed to occupy center stage to leave its mark. It is a theatre that walks among the people, connects with communities, and knows how to listen.

It operates far from the spotlight and, precisely for that reason, reaches profound depths. In short, it is a theatre that delves into the very fabric of social and human experience.

Born in London in 1954 and shaped both politically and artistically in Milan, Varley joined Denmark’s Odin Teatret in 1976. Alongside Eugenio Barba, she took part in one of contemporary theater’s most radical and fruitful endeavors.

The actor’s body, voice, and presence—as well as their relationship with space and community—became instruments of an exploration that transcended mere performance. In this work, the actor does not simply interpret a text; they embody memory, physicality, voice, and presence. They are the bearers of a culture at risk of remaining invisible. Julia Varley has lent her body and voice to that submerged culture.

She has taken her performances to stages across the globe; yet, her artistic story cannot be told solely through the productions themselves. There is everything that unfolds around them: the encounters, the relationships, the battles fought, and the networks woven over time.

There is a conviction that theatre can also be a space where one’s perspective on the world is transformed. However, her artistic journey has not been limited to performance. The Ipazia Prize recognizes her as an activist in the performing arts, capable of inextricably linking artistic inspiration with a commitment to gender equality and human rights.

A fundamental part of her path is tied to the Magdalena Project, an international network of women in contemporary theatre founded in 1986. Varley has been a key figure within it, helping to forge bonds between artists separated by geography, culture, and language.

Through this network, women who might otherwise never have met came together to share experiences, questions, vulnerabilities, and tools. It is patient work, woven with threads that may seem delicate but which, over time, form a resilient fabric-uniting artists from every corner of the globe and offering visibility, critical exchange, and support to theatrical practices that are often marginalized.

It is no coincidence that one of her recent artistic milestones is the production “Compassione” (Compassion), directed by Eugenio Barba; in it, Varley gives voice and physical form to the stories of women who steadfastly uphold hope and dignity in conflict zones.

Furthermore, in 2020, she co-founded the Barba Varley Foundation alongside Barba. Their goal was to support theatre from the margins: the “nameless” figures of culture and groups operating under conditions of severe disadvantage or political persecution.

Awarding the Ipazia Prize to Julia Varley thus honors a vision of theatre that refuses to succumb to the ephemeral nature of rapid consumption. It celebrates an actress who has transformed her voice into an instrument of geometric precision-echoing the very essence of Ipazia-capable of dismantling dogmas and patriarchal barriers to place the human being back at the center.

Patrizia Pertuso