Yorick Festival

A festival dedicated to the Shakespearean Fool

The Yorick Festival debuted in Rome in February 2026, bringing to the spotlight one of the most fascinating and elusive figures in theater history: the Fool. The festival's name pays homage to Yorick, the court jester evoked by Hamlet before his skull, a symbol of comedy intertwined with melancholy and death. Conceived and directed by Leonardo Petrillo, the festival presents the jester not as a relic of the past, but as a presence that spans the centuries: «The jester never truly disappears. He changes form, mask, and language, but he remains».

Six performances across Rome's museums and theaters

The Yorick Festival operates as a distributed performance ecosystem: five cultural landmarks in the capital become stages, each with its own architectural and historical identity. The program includes six performances:

• Viața mea din flori at Palazzo delle Esposizioni;
• Quell'attimo di beatitudine at Palazzo Altemps;
• Ulisse inside at the Museo di Roma at Palazzo Braschi;
• At Home With Will Shakespeare by and with Pip Utton, at Palazzo Altemps;
• Casanova ½, directed by Leonardo Petrillo, at Teatro Torlonia;
• Othello, featuring Philippe Nicaud, at the MACRO.

An international scope

Produced by the Teatro di Roma - Teatro Nazionale in collaboration with the Teatro Stabile di Torino, the Teatro Biondo di Palermo, and Fringe Italia Off, the Yorick Festival weaves together productions from Avignon, Edinburgh, and Brașov, alternating between Italian, French, English, and Romanian. The result is a journey that speaks the universal language of theater and engages with the great archetypes of literature: from Hamlet to Othello, from Ulysses to Casanova.

The Yorick Festival in Rome, Lazio

The event takes place entirely within the City of Rome, the capital of Lazio, highlighting its museum and theatrical heritage: from the Flaminio district with Teatro Torlonia to the heart of the historic center with Palazzo Altemps and Palazzo Braschi, and the contemporary spaces of the MACRO. The choice to host performances within museums and historic palaces turns every visit into a dual experience of art and live theater, confirming Rome's vocation as a laboratory for new theatrical languages.