The Theater Writing Prize 2022 has been awarded to Mathieu Wijdeven and Raoul de Jong for their text Answered the why. The jury has just announced this at the Dutch Theater Festival. The authors will receive an amount of 10,000 euros.
The jury describes the winning text as ‘an adventurous search for the person behind the name George Gerhardus Theodorus Rustwijk’, a Surinamese poet and artist (1862-1914), whose oeuvre is too little known. Wijdeven wrote “an elegant theater text” that “shows how politics was an instrument for making theatre. With red ears and the shame on his jaws, Wijdeven lets you listen to this correction of history. Wijdeven’s text is a personal account, a touching tribute and a masterfully constructed, visual theater text that, in addition to being a period document, is also an enrichment of the Dutch theater repertoire.”
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The other nominees were ,Rosa. by Koen Bosman, TAL of the collective BOG and Trojan Wars by Peer Wittenbols. The four were selected from 122 submitted Dutch-language plays that were performed for the first time – live or online – between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021. “These four texts embody the necessity of playwriting,” said the jury.
Also read: Interviews with the nominated playwrights
BNG Bank Theater Prize
Except if text was Answered the why, played by Mathieu Wijdeven at Production House Theater Rotterdam, nominated for the BNG Bank Theater Prize, as one of the best performances by young theater talent up to the age of 35. That prize, also awarded at the festival, went to Performance collective ROTOR. The collective received the prize, worth 45,000 euros, for the performance Erosion. The money is intended for retaking the winning performance in Dutch theaters and/or as an investment in a new production.
According to the jury, Erosion a “hypnotic performance”, in which the spinning movement is stripped down to its pure essence. The movements are open and evoke associations about (in)dependence, surrender and wear and tear. The performance is beautifully composed. There is also praise for ‘the monumental decor’ and the ‘mystical guitar music’. “The performance invites the audience to surrender to the erosion of existence.”
Except for Erosion and Answered the why were also nominated Sheralynn Adriaansz / Likeminds with the performance BeigeMerel Severs / Theater a/d Rijn (De Nieuwe Oost) with Let me tell you something you already knowRitzah Statia / Rightaboutnow Inc with Kibra Silensio and Timo Tembuyser / Muziektheater Transparant & Festival Cement / Production House Theater Rotterdam with Missa Mater Sola. The nominated performances can still be seen at the Nederlands Theater festival, which lasts until 11 September.
Loek Zonneveld Pen
A new prize was the Loek Zonneveld Pen for theater critics. It went to Herien Wensink, theater critic of De Volkskrant. Named after the critic who died in 2018 and instituted by the Theaterkrant in collaboration with De Groene Amsterdammer, the prize is intended ‘to reward and honor excellent theater criticism and to promote the importance of theater criticism in general’. It is ‘a pass-on price’, in which the wearer can decide for himself who will be the next winner.