The Max Awards also give second chances. The productions , in theater, and , the latest creation of the La Venidera company, in dance, accumulated the largest number of trophies in the 29th edition of the most prestigious awards in the performing arts in Spain, which were held this Monday night on the imposing stage of the Roman theater in Mérida, which was also one of the protagonists of the evening. The choral production of the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, with almost fifteen actors led by , came as a favorite in the theater categories with five nominations, of which it finally won three: best cast, best theatrical authorship for Szpunberg and Albert Pijuan and best leading actor for Ton Vieira. But the jackpot of the night, best theater show, was taken away from him 1936the long-form production released in the now distant 2024 and nominated in two categories at last year’s awards. Because yes, the Max allow repeat candidates if a show is revived or goes on tour, as is the case.
The great protagonists in dance were Irene Tena and Albert Hernández, directors of the La Venidera company, who if last year they went up to the Max stage to receive some of them, in this edition they did so to receive the award for best dance show, best female performer and best choreography. AND fable, Roser López Espinosa’s large-format piece for eight dancers, which opened last year’s Mercat de les Flors season, took the award for best dance cast.
The gala also became a battle between Catalonia and Madrid, especially in theater, where the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and the National Dramatic Center shared the most important awards in the discipline. Five for each one. Two of them shared by the co-production of Ours: , won the award for best director, and Mona Martínez took away the favorite, , for best leading actress. The CDN accumulated, in addition to 1936another two for: best costume design and best stage space design.
And the great representative of the TNC was the work of Szpunberg, a very ambitious text that tells the story of a family over a hundred years, beginning in Ukraine during the 1920s and ending in present-day Barcelona. Thirteen performers, live music and several languages on stage—Catalan, Ukrainian, Russian, Yiddish—all of it woven together by a narrator played by Ton Vieira, who also won the award for best leading actor. From him came some of the exciting words of the night. “The audience’s gaze is one that wants to fall in love with the things it sees on stage. They played at looking at me and I played at looking at them. But sometimes the gaze punishes, discriminates and makes you feel like an outsider. I have also felt that gaze. But I choose the audience’s: without prejudice, that is not afraid to be surprised or to change. The protagonists of this story were not that lucky. They were looked at badly for being different, and this is not a story from the past, it continues to happen,” he said.
, by Nao de Amores, directed by and conceived specifically to be performed at the Pelayos de la Presa monastery in Madrid—on a sound journey through the bowels of the ancient building—won the award for best musical or lyrical show, and , another of the night’s favorites, took home only one award, best musical composition. And Pedro Yagüe won for his enlightenment in .
The gala, directed by the Extremaduran choreographer, dancer and stage director Cristina D. Silveira, was much faster than usual. It was peppered with dance numbers, some lyrical ones, and performances of fragments of classic monologues by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides or adaptations of works by María Zambrano or Catalina Clara Ramírez de Guzmán. All with an agile and enjoyable rhythm and always accompanied by a choir of 17 dancers and performers from Extremadura who kept dance as the protagonist. The presence of some friendly but firm dancers who helped speed up when some winner began to exceed their time also helped. More than one had to cut off their thanks. Because it was brief, it was even the institutional speech of the president of the SGAE, Antonio Onetti, accompanied by that of the SGAE Foundation, Juan José Solana. They repeated last year’s formula, with Solana at the piano while Onetti claimed poetry, cited Socrates and imagined a meeting between the philosopher and , who was remembered in the In Memory “Socrates would have asked Robe about the beginning of poetry, and Robe would have told him that he had no fucking idea. Giving light to the theory that poetry is a gift from divinity.”
There were also several protest speeches that provided excitement as the winners rose and fell dizzyingly. The most, that of Blanca Añón, winner of the award for best stage space and video scene design for Orlando, that she could barely stop her tears to speak. He began by asking the SGAE a question: “When do you plan to consider the performing arts as deserving of copyright? Without lighting, costumes, without videos, we would only see dramatized readings.” He continued to denounce “police and political violence towards teachers.” And, to top it off, a cry: “Long live Free Palestine.”
That last one rang a couple more times. Ana Zamora said it when receiving her award for best musical or lyrical show for Towards echoes of the sacred. “Reality continues to surpass fiction. The people of Palestine continue to be massacred. Long live free Palestine.” Or that of Jesús Torres, director of the Aedo Teatro, who received the award for best private production design for Poet (lost) in New York and launched: “Get ready outside because we are also going to defend a priority, the cultural priority.”
The dancer and choreographer Sara Baras received a warm reception when she collected the special Aplauso award. The Max de Honor award, for the first time in almost 30 years, was awarded not to an artist, but to a producer: . He received his statuette on the stage of the theater that hosts the Mérida Classical Theater Festival, which he has directed for 15 years. “We are an economic and social engine and we have to say it loud and clear so that our leaders are clear about it,” he said just beginning a political and also protest speech. “Culture should not be a luxury, it is as necessary as education, housing and work. Political friends, the theater must be taken care of. A country that does not take care of its culture is a country that is not doing very well,” he continued. He also took a moment to thank his family and the actors Héctor Alterio, recently deceased, and Concha Velasco. It was given to him, by the way, by , who celebrated his awards a couple of weeks ago, which were born four years ago as a competition for these.
Complete list of winners
Best theater show
1936
Best stage direction
Lucia Carballal
Best dance show
No
best choreography
No
Best theatrical authorship
Victoria Szpunberg and Albert Pijuan
Best revelation show
golden fox
Best street show
Drop
Best children’s, youth or family show
The teacher
Best private production design
The Aedo Theater
Best stage and video scene design
Blanca Añón
Best lighting design
Pedro Yagüe
Best costume design
Augustine Petronio
Best musical or lyrical show
Towards echoes of the sacred
Best musical composition for stage show
Fuenteovejuna
Best theater cast
The third escape
best actor
Ton Vieira
best actress
Mona Martinez
Best dance cast
fable
Best Male Dance Performer
Juan Berlanga
Best Female Dance Performer
Irene Really
Best theater adaptation
Javo Gimenez
Best Breakthrough Authorship
Ivan Lopez-Ortega
Special Applause Award
Sara Baras
