Geelong’s Back to Back Theatre has been announced as the 2024 recipient of the Venice Biennale’s prestigious Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre.

Announcing the award, the Venice Biennale described Back to Back Theatre as “the pioneer of renewal in Australian theatre and one of the companies known around the world for making disability a tool of artistic enquiry. Back to Back Theatre has captivated audiences around the world for the past 30 years with works that address social, political, and philosophical themes, challenging the construction of our imaginations and our perception of normalcy.”

Back to Back Theatre’s The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes. Photo © Jeff Busby.

Each year, the Venice Biennale awards its highest prize, the Golden Lion, in the areas of film, theatre, dance and music, and biennially for art and architecture. Among the 2023 recipients of the Golden Lion were Armando Punzo (for his 35 years of making theatre with the incarcerated), producer-musician Brian Eno, and the feature film Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

The co-directors of the Venice Biennale’s Theatre Department, Stefano Ricci and Gianni Forte, said: “Our fears, our...