REASONS
VI EUROPE THEATRE PRIZE IV ENTRP

LUCA RONCONI

Untiring creator of shows, teacher of generations of actors and an actor himself, inventor of new spaces and perspectives, Luca Ronconi has changed, through his work and, his influence, the way theatre is performed and experienced. For almost four decades his activities, spanning theatre, opera and television, have always been distinguished by his coherent interpretations of texts covering a wide spectrum. He constantly questions what he' s doing and refuses to be labelled, even though researching new methods of communication has often resulted in him having to face challenges held to be " impossible " because they involved works that were supposedly " unstageable, " enormous casts, and unusually long productions, as well as the unconventional use of non - theatrical spaces and elaborate, complex machinery. And what about his radical departures from the standard interpretations of classical texts, breathing new life into them with his extraordinary capacity for digging deeply into the plays? Possessing a rationality that never lacks irony, and an all-seeing culture capable of penetrating past eras, Ronconi has rewritten theatre history, from early Creek drama to his beloved Baroque, from Elizabethan cruelty to Goldoni' s unmaskings. He has also laid bare the clichés of opera librettos, sensitively analysed Ibsen, taken a profound look at the felix Austria, exemplified the exaggerated application of German naturalism. Then he moved on to modern drama, starting with Pasolini, finally rediscovering a taste for " story - telling " , which had previously taken second place to structural interpretations, and to the theatrical adaptation of the novel, from Gadda to Dostoyevsky. His different approaches, however, are always based on a study of tradition to re - establish, in new terms, the relationship between the author and his audience. A determining factor has always been the Laboratorio di Prato (Prato Workshop) founded and conducted by him in the seventies to establish a non - realistic method of acting and to equip the actor with a modern space in which to evolve.


PREMIO EUROPA NUOVE REALTÀ TEATRALI
QUARTA EDIZIONE

CHRISTOPH MARTHALER

Director Marthaler receives the Premio Europa New Theatrical Realities award. Did the jury make a mistake? There is nothing " new " about the many sets that Anna Viebrock has created for Marthaler over the last decade. Peeling walls, decrepit furniture, threadbare clothes. In the middle of the empty space (in which even the light seems dull and grey), the emaciated limbs and faces of worn-out men and women seem almost skeletal. " New realities? " As an artist and an individual Marthaler is the antithesis of the " innovator " that the modern world expects. It is unthinkable that he would lead a movement, channel his ambitions into a programme or a manifesto, " or adopt any type of " ism " to build his reputation. The works and plays he is now staging are different to those we have seen so far: words and music, combined in the most astonishing way, naturally, but never in an attempt to be original at all costs. The novelty in his work is expressed in a simple rearranging of the past. The guiding principle of his productions, which provides the perspective for the future, has its roots in Chekhov and Maeterlink, and continues on through Beckett. Their interpretation of theatrical time, the " freeing " of time until it becomes slowness, is used by Marthaler (in a different way from Pina Bausch or Bob Wilson) to achieve an adventurous, and patient, interpretation of reality. His sharp attention to detail and his grim awareness of the ugliness of the everyday; of evil, allows us to fully perceive the horror of it all. Yet, his interpretation of reality stems from a profound impulse that is completely different, indeed, quite the opposite. The exclusion of speed and novelty, the submersion in fatigue and stress and strain, in short, the patience of Marthaler springs from a deep compassion, from a feeling that could be described as Samaritan towards the most desperate human beings. This feeling permeates all his productions in a very unusual form: music. As well as from Chekhov and Beckett, Marthaler has learned slow-ness, the reassuring and terrible aspects of repetition, from a third artist: Franz Schubert. Marthaler began his career in the theatre as a musician and has remained such, even after becoming an author and director