Found a new form through activism and art: The author Sivan Ben Yishai is this year’s winner of the Mülheim Drama Prize.
The author Sivan Ben Yishai was awarded the Mülheim Dramatist Prize 2022 for her play “Wounds are forever (Self-Portrait as a National Poet)”.
This was decided by the jury of the renowned competition late Thursday evening after a public debate lasting several hours. The prize for German-language contemporary drama is endowed with 15,000 euros. Seven participants had been nominated – six women and one man.
Jury: New form through the combination of activism and art
Sivan Ben Yishai’s piece was “the boldest”, “a tour de force of a modern shaman through the last 100 years”, the jury justified its decision. The author creates a “connection of Jewish self-empowerment and feminist retribution”. She combines activism and art and thus finds a new form.
Her play, which was staged by the Nationaltheater Mannheim, takes the audience on a wild ride through the abysses and entanglements of German-Israeli-Palestinian history. The author appears in the play in constantly changing roles – as a Holocaust survivor, as a partisan, as an asylum seeker. “The piece is a search for clues and self-questioning at the same time.”
Sivan Ben Yishai was born in Jerusalem, lives in Berlin and works closely with the author and translator Maren Kames.
The Mülheim Theater Days ran from May 7th to 26th. All pieces were performed live in Mülheim. In addition to the adult competition, there was also a children’s play competition, also endowed with 15,000 euros. This award was already given to the actor, author and director Milan Gather last week for his play “Oma Monika – was war?” been awarded.
