The winners of the 20th anniversary edition of Nová dráma/New Drama 2024 are...
Ten performances were selected for the main programme and entered the Grand Prix competition of the 20th edition of the contemporary theatre festival Nová Dráma/New Drama. Nigerian playwright, writer, and the 1986 Nobel laureate in Literature Wole Soyinka took over the patronage of the festival that took place in Bratislava and Trnava from 13 to 18 May 2024.
Slovak as well as international festivalgoers had a chance to spot the crème de la crème of Slovak contemporary theatre. The performances enlisted in the main programme had been staged by professional theatres all around Slovakia during ongoing and/or previous theatre season. Renowned Nigerian playwright, writer, and activist Wole Soyinka held a masterclass as a part of the accompanying programme.
“For the Theatre Institute, the festival represents an umbrella platform that presents the very best of Slovak theatre on stage. The 20th anniversary edition saw also a highly-regarded accompanying programme that drew our attention to additional aspects of performative arts, for example, its power to enhance values defining our society. The opening speech of our honoured guest and festival patron Wole Soyinka implied the same message. According to Mr Soyinka, drama is an act of union and, through humanistic content and inner creative, the propositions of theatre are always creative and never destructive. We are happy that Mr Soyinka’s masterclass in Bratislava had such a great attendance,” said Ms Vladislava Fekete, the festival director.
Out of the ten performance enlisted in the main programme, the international jury selected one winner that was awarded the Grand Prix at the closing ceremony on 18 May 2024. “The members of the international jury were Tamar Laliashvili, a theatre critic and manager from Georgia, Artur Ghukasyan, the creative director of the High Fest International Festival in Armenia, and Ivan Medenica, a theatre critic, professor, and cultural manager from Serbia, who was also the head of the jury. This year, the jurors acknowledged that the main programme performances were made by a strong generation of young creators and performers who co-create the stories to include their own opinions, beliefs, and concerns in their art,” Ms Fekete explained.
Nová dráma/New Drama Grand Prix
LUDUS Theatre
Édouard Louis: History of Violence (based on the novel Histoire de la violence)
Directed by Barbora Chovancová
Barbora Chovancová. Photographed by Tibor Géci
The performances to be presented in the main programme were selected by the festival’s dramaturgy board. Members of the board, theatrologist Dária Fojtíková Fehérová, theatre critic Diana Pavlačková, and theatrologist and dramaturg Marek Godovič attended altogether 80 performances. Their selection was announced at the beginning of 2024.
Audience of Bratislava Prize
Spiš Theatre
Alena Sabuchová – Lucia Mihálová: Whisperers
Directed by Mariana Luteránová
Audience members decided on the winner by casting their ballots after each performance.
Student Jury Prize
Jozef Gregor Tajovský Theatre
Petra Tejnorová, Marta Ljubková a kol.: We Are a Country
Directed by Petra Tejnorová
Student Jury Prize was presented by the students of artistic university study programmes who attended Young Critics’ Seminar under the supervision of Jitka Šotkovská, a Czech theatrologist, dramaturg, and editor, during the Nová Dráma/New Drama Festival.
Prizes for Best Drama Writing Contest DRÁMA 2023
Best Original Drama Writing in Slovak or Czech Language Contest DRÁMA 2023 is traditionally part of the Nová drama/New Drama Festival. Together 40 dramatic pieces entered the 24th edition of the DRÁMA Contest. 24 dramatic pieces were written in Slovak language and 16 dramatic pieces were submitted in Czech language. DRÁMA 2023 Contest is organized by the Theatre Institute in co-operation with Ján Palárik Theatre in Trnava, the Drama Department of the National Theatre Košice, Jozef Gregor Tajovský Theatre, and Studio 12 which is a theatre and presentation platform of the Theatre Institute. Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) – Devín Radio is the partner of the contest.
The partners of the contest bestowed their awards on the following authors:
Ján Palárik Theatre in Trnava Prize: Jana Borsuková for the text Naked
Jozef Gregor Tajovský Theatre Prize: Jana Borsuková for the text Naked
Studio 12 Prize: Dominik Reisel for the text 143/144, 12i
RTVS –Devín Radio and the Drama Department of the National Theatre Košice decided not to award their prizes this year.
The main prizes of the DRÁMA 2023 Contest were awarded by the jury consisting of five experts in the field of drama: Ilona Smejkalová, dramaturg of the National Theatre in Prague, Andrea Domeová, dramaturg of ASTORKA Korzo ʼ90 Theatre and the head of the Publishing Centre of the Theatre Institute, Jakub Molnár, dramaturg of Ján Palárik Theatre in Trnava, Peter Himič, dramaturg of the Drama Department of the National Theatre Košice, and Vladislava Fekete, the director of the Theatre Institute. The main prizes were awarded as follows:
1st place: Vilém Dubnička for the text The Czech Sea or Královec First and Foremost
2nd place: Jana Borsuková for the text Naked
3rd place: Barbora Rokytová for the text I Can’t Get Hold of You Somehow
Thanks to the partners, the winners will get a chance to present their texts to the audience in various stage or radio adaptations.
Vilém Dubnička. Photographed by Tibor Géci.
