We are pleased to present the winners in our inaugural Short Cuts Virtual Theatre Festival!
Third place – FETUS, by Il Luogi in Buio, Napoli, Italy
This is an unusual and deeply imaginative piece.
The judges very much enjoyed this work for a solo actor. They felt that it met the spirit of the Short Cuts festival wonderfully.
We see, in a dim red light, the face of the speaker as he delivers a broken, confused and troubled monologue, representing the thoughts of an unborn child, reluctant to come into the world that is being left him by his parents and the generations before them. This is witty and at the same time disturbing. The judges loved the surprising and very funny ending.
This is very much a short play for our times, and felt as if it was born of the pandemic and of some of the bizarre directions of Western politics in recent years. Congratulations again to Il Luogo in Buio of Napoli, Italy.
Second place – Toofa’s Reward, Ushindi Theatre, Kampala, Uganda.
Our Short Cuts runner-up is a high-energy, warm and witty piece of ensemble playing, which tells a folk story beautifully. It’s a piece described by our judges as “crackling with life and vitality”.
Many congratulations to the writer, director and actors for a piece which worked on every level. The ensemble playing and pace of the work is its greatest strength. It moves through time and location seamlessly, without a pause, enabling a moral tale to be told beautifully with wit and grace. The theme of “family” here being a community, who should share aims and concerns rather than cheat one another. A wonderful short play, beautifully realized. Congratulations again to Ushindi Theatre of Uganda.
WINNER – Family Pics, Avenzi de Scena, Civitaveccia, Italy.
For our winner, we go back to Italy. How wonderful to have two such entries from Italia!
This time we go to the small city of Civitavecchia near Rome and to the Avenzi De Scena company and their winning play, Family Pics.
Congratulations to them all for this wonderful and imaginative piece, beautifully and strikingly realized. Family Pics impressed the judges for its wonderful visuals and its ability to tell a tale of what it is to be a family through a whole life.
The judges felt that this piece would work and be fully understood across cultural and language barriers. There is a simplicity and a profundity to the work; there is an elegance in the realization and in the stylization — this is work of a very high order and the writer, designer and performers deserve the highest plaudits for this short and impressive piece. Congrats again to our winner, Family Pics from Avenzi De Scena of Civitaveccia, Italia!
People’s Choice Award winner – Extraction without Pain, Compania de Teatro Casa del Artista, Caracas, Venezuela