On June 28th, an award ceremony of the international drama contest TALKING ABOUT BORDERS took place at the Nuremberg State Theatre. Two Lithuanian playwrights were among the winners. Dovilė Statkevičienė was awarded the 2nd prize and 2,000 Euros for her play The Elephant (Lith. Dramblys, translated into German by Arna Aley), whereas Virginija Rimkaitė was granted the 3rd prize and 1,500 Euros for her play Patina (Lith. Patina, translated into German by Claudia Sinnig).
Estonian dramatist Karl Koppelmaa with his play Singing Green became the laureate of the international drama contest and was awarded 3,500 Euros as well as the world premiere of his work at the Theatre Regensburg. The international jury of the 2018 drama contest TALKING ABOUT BORDERS had to select the winners from 25 texts submitted by various playwrights from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The Elephant by Lithuanian dramatist Dovilė Statkevičienė presents the family portrait affected by loss, suicide and depression. Yet the present sense of humour as well as positivity outweighs the grimness of the play content. The jury paid special attention to high linguistic culture of the text and the talent of the author, which unfolds through poetic dialogues, text rhythmics, symbolism and cleverly designed structure of the scenes. Dovilė Statkevičienė was granted her Master's Degree in Theatre Studies at Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre; her plays have already received numerous awards in Lithuania, whereas her play 8 Minutes (Lith. 8 Minutės) has been included in the repertoire of the Arts Printing House since 2016 (director Sigita Pikturnaitė). The artist also works as a theatre critic.
The play Patina by Virginija Rimkaitė is also a family story. The jury found its frightening comicality and absurdity as well as complete lack of emotions from the main characters highly convincing. The fictional world of the play is very engaging - a far too large house for a mother, her son and daughter-in-law, where people can be exchanged as soon as they decide not to, are not able to or not fit to be around anymore. In 2016, Virginija Rimkaitė completed her studies in Philology. Soon after the graduation, her play Boiling Temperature 5425 (Lith. Virimo temperatūra 5425) won the Lithuanian drama competition VERSMĖ. In 2017, the author became the laureate of the competition The First Book organised by the Lithuanian Writers' Association. The play Boiling Temperature 5425 was staged by director Artūras Areima in his theatre AAT in 2017.
“Both Lithuanian plays have great potential to establish themselves within the context of European theatre due to the relevance of their topics as well as the originality of their stage language. I am really glad I had the possibility to translate one of the winning plays,” Lithuanian playwright and translator Arna Aley shared her ideas.
The theatre project TALKING ABOUT BORDERS initiated by Christian Papke has been organised since 2004. The project encourages playwrights from Eastern and Central Europe to submit their texts for the contest, the main topic of which is life in the epicentre of social changes. The aim of the initiative is to provide artists with the possibility to know their neighbours better through their artistic achievements as well as contemporary contribution to the cultural life of their country. The contest has already presented numerous dramatists from Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. The rules of the contest state that only the plays that have not been published or staged are eligible for participation. The topic of 2018 international drama contest was “Talking about Borders: Feeling of Life in Rapidly Changing World.”
