The playwright Victoria Szpunberg, born in Buenos Aires and based in Barcelona, ​​has been distinguished with the National Prize for Dramatic Literature for his piece The categorical imperative (Arola). The award, granted by the Ministry of Culture, is endowed with 30.000 Euros and recognizes a work that has established itself on the Catalan scene before making the leap to new places.
The jury emphasizes that the text reaches a dramatic intensity rare, worked with an ingenious technique that allows a tone ironic and incisive from a philosophical substrate. After his time in the Teatre Lliure, the function is planned to take place first premiere in Spanish at the end of October in the Abbey Theater Madrid.
Jury's reasons and scope of the work
According to the committee's assessment, The categorical imperative deploys a philosophical gaze that exposes the symbolic violence of systems when they expel those who comply with their rules. The piece, written with formal precision, finds the stage temperature suitable for challenging the viewer without giving up irony.
The production, premiered at the Lliure, has had great critical reception and public, and was even rescheduled. The production has highlighted, among other achievements, the interpretive work of its cast and the pulse of the text, recognitions that have translated into awards in the season, such as those given to the interpretation and the libretto itself.
The work focuses on a protagonist linked to the university environment and ethics, in a context of precariousness which highlights the tensions of our time. This intersection between everyday life and thought, approached with acidic humor, has turned The categorical imperative in a title with potential international travel.
Profile and career of Victoria Szpunberg
Szpunberg (Buenos Aires, 1973) is author and teacher at the Institut del Teatre and the Barcelona School of Choreography. He has been teaching classes and workshops for years, and usually defines himself more as scene worker as an artist in general, a positioning that permeates his way of producing and accompanying projects.
His first piece, Between here and there (The length of a walk), date of 1998: It won the second prize for the MarÃa Teresa León Prize, was selected by the Royal Court Theatre (international residency 2000) and premiered at the RESAD of Madrid in 2000 and then traveled to the Here Festival in New York in 2002. His texts have been presented in theaters and festivals inside and outside Spain and have been translated to more than ten languages.
In addition to writing, he has collaborated with choreographers, has signed dramaturgies and adaptations, has directed shows and created pieces for radio and sound installations. In 2013 he received the Max Award to Catalan theatrical authorship, consolidating a long-standing career.
Among its recent milestones are: The third escape, which became theatrical phenomenon in Barcelona this season and established it as the first woman who directs his own play at the Sala Gran of the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya. The piece addresses, with a very personal writing, the marks of the exile within a family.
Featured works and recent projects
Its catalogue includes titles such as Esthetic Paradise (Beckett Room, Grec Festival 2004), The talking machine (Sala Beckett 2007 and 2022; Teatro Maldà 2017) and El meu avi no va anar a Cuba (Grec de Barcelona 2008), where its critical tone and his interest in the grey areas of the present.
They also sign their trajectory The favorite brand of the Germans Clausman (Tantarantana 2010; Sala Beckett 2019), Boys don't cry (Teatre Lliure, Grec 2012) and The onzena plague (Teatre Lliure 2015), the latter with nomination for the Butaca Awards, examples of its versatility in different formats and spaces.
Already in the last decade, Szpunberg premiered Blue whale (TNC 2018) and The fish of a cos (TNC and National Drama Center, 2022), in addition to writing the libretto for the opera The lost cat for Gran Teatre del LiceuHis activity continued with bad heart (TNC, 2023) and Volcano in the CDN programming, along with the stage adaptation of permafrost, scheduled for the Texas Theater.
The jury and the list of winners of the award
The award is granted by the Ministry of Culture and this year the jury was chaired by Almudena Hernández de la Torre Chicote (General Subdirectorate for the Promotion of Books, Reading, and Spanish Literature). The committee included representatives from academies, universities, critics, and professional associations.
- Luis Mateo DÃez (Royal Spanish Academy)
- MarÃa López Sández (Royal Galician Academy)
- Juan Luis Zabala Artetxe (Euskaltzaindia)
- Magà Camps MartÃn (Institut d'Estudis Catalans)
- Àngel Vicent Calpe Climent (Valencian Language Academy)
- Enrique Gallud Jardiel (CRUE)
- Ana Isabel Fernández Valbuena (ACE-ATT)
- Carlos Ferrer Hammerlindl (Spanish Association of Literary Critics)
- Mónica Tourón Torrado (FAPE)
- Ana Isabel Zamorano Rueda (Center for Gender Studies, UNED)
- Raquel Vidales López (Ministry of Culture)
- MarÃa Velasco González (winner in the previous edition)
In recent years, recognition has gone to Maria Velasco and, before, in authors such as Paula Carballeira, Pablo Remon, Guillem Clua, Alberto Conejero, Yolanda GarcÃa Serrano, alfredo sanzol, Juan Mayorga o Angelica Liddell, a list that places the award among the most influential in the theater scene.
With this ruling, Szpunberg sees a career that combines intellectual rigor, commitment to the scene and a unique ability to turn everyday conflicts into live theaterThe imminent arrival of The categorical imperative al Abbey Theater marks a new chapter for a work that has already demonstrated its reach and now seeks to engage with broader audiences.