Catalan productions took many of the top honours at the 29th Max Awards, Spain’s main performing arts prizes.
Theatre
A production by the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, telling the story of a Jewish family that fled the Argentine dictatorship and found refuge in Catalonia, was one of the night’s big winners, taking the awards for best writing, best actor (Ton Vieira) and best cast. Combining humour with stories of exile, it returns next season and will tour to Madrid and Paris.
The award for best stage direction went to Lucía Carballal and best actress to Mona Martínez.
The top theatre prize went to 1936, directed by Andrés Lima, a large-scale montage about the Spanish Civil War. The company dedicated the award to the thousands of people still missing from the conflict.
Dance
The young company La Venidera, founded by Irene Tena and Albert Hernández, won three awards for its piece No: best dance show, best choreography and best female dancer for Irene Tena. Hernández said the company now belonged to everyone.
Juan Berlanga won best male dancer for JUANCABALLO, and the award for best dance cast went to a piece choreographed by Roser López Espinosa and presented at the Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona.
New voices
The award for best new show went to a piece about sexual violence created and performed by Elisa Forcano, while Iván López-Ortega won best new writing for Taxidermia de una alondra. The 23-year-old called for more support for emerging artists, who often wait years for recognition.
Other awards
- Audience award: flamenco dancer Sara Baras for Vuela, her tribute to Paco de Lucía.
- Honorary Max: Jesús Cimarro, director of the Mérida International Classical Theatre Festival.
Messages from the stage
The gala, directed by Cristina Silveira, included a tribute to the actress Margarita Xirgu, whose 1933 performance of Medea in Mérida marked the beginning of the classical theatre festival. Speakers defended public education and culture as pillars of an open society, and several called for an end to the war in Gaza. Cimarro urged governments to dedicate 1% of the national budget, and 2% of regional budgets, to culture.
