A small Australian theater company made up of neurodiverse and disabled actors has won one of the world’s richest theater prizes, the 2.5 million Danish kroner (US$371,354) Ibsen award.
Back to Back, which was established in 1987 and is based in Geelong, were announced as the winners of the biennial prize on Sunday night in Norway. The pioneering theater company is the first Australian recipient of the award, dubbed “the Nobel prize for theater,” which goes to an individual or company “that has brought new artistic dimensions to the world of drama or theater.”
Back to Back is renowned for their acclaimed and often confronting shows, such as 2011’s Ganesh Versus the Third Reich, about the Hindu deity traveling to Germany to reclaim the swastika from the Nazis. Cast members interrupt the show to question their right to perform it.
Their other shows include Food Court (2008), Lady Eats Apple (2016) and The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes (2019).
The current Back to Back ensemble are actors Mark Deans, Scott Price, Breanna Deleo, Simon Laherty and Sarah Mainwaring.
Mainwaring said that she was “so excited” about their win.
“I think we all are, it is such an honor for all of us to get that award and to receive it from that panel,” Mainwaring said. “For them to see that in us is so fantastic, and it’s so rewarding for us to know that we can go on and build our work The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes, to tour it to more places, and make it bigger, hopefully, a finer work. It is such a privilege.”
Back to Back artistic director Bruce Gladwin said he was “shocked” by the news.
When he was first contacted by the Norwegian National Theatre, which takes part in the announcement, he thought they wanted to collaborate.
“But in that meeting, they announced that we’d won it. None of the ensemble had any idea that they were in contention for it, let alone that they’d won. They were just so moved that their work was acknowledged at that level,” Gladwin said.
“Awards are strange, because you don’t necessarily make the work to receive them. This just came out of the blue. I feel really honored that this group of international theater practitioners have been watching the company’s work for close to two decades,” he said. “They’ve acknowledged the ensemble’s insight as social commentators, which is embedded within the work. I feel quite touched about their understanding of what we’re trying to do. It’s a pat on the back for everyone.”
The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality made the announcement on Sunday, timed to mark the birthday of celebrated Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.
“We are proud to be able to honor an outstanding and unique theater company that asks questions of their audience, of society and of each other through groundbreaking productions,” said Ingrid Lorentzen, chair of the prize committee. “Back to Back’s work is exciting, unsettling and thought-provoking. It inspires us to be better artists and better people.”
In a letter detailing its decision, the prize panel praised Back to Back’s shows as “some of the most memorable productions of 21st century theater.”
Gladwin said they had no concrete plans for the money: “We’ve just got over the shock of actually winning the award, but it is an opportunity to take some risks, to support some blue sky projects.”
Back to Back are to receive their award, which has previously gone to British playwright Peter Brook and Nobel Prize in Literature winner Peter Handke, at a ceremony in Oslo in September.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
The US government has banned US government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens, The Associated Press (AP) has learned. Four people with direct knowledge of the matter told the AP about the policy, which was put into effect by departing US ambassador Nicholas Burns in January shortly before he left China. The people would speak only on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a confidential directive. Although some US agencies already had strict rules on such relationships, a blanket “nonfraternization” policy, as it is known, has
OPTIONS: Asked if one potential avenue to a third term was having J.D. Vance run for the top job and then pass the baton to him, Trump said: ‘That’s one,’ among others US President Donald Trump on Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029. “There are methods which you could do it,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club. He elaborated later to reporters on Air Force One from Florida to Washington that “I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term
RSS