“I Killed Kurt Cobain”, by the Gran Canaria company La Escrig Productions, was awarded the Replica Prize 2024 in the Best Adult Show category, while Severiano García from Tenerife won the award for Best Direction for “Immortality”, by Delirium Theatre. These were among the main awards presented at the Tenerife Auditorium, where the XIII edition of this gala was held on the afternoon of Sunday 28th July. This year, the trajectory of playwright Ángel Camacho Cabrera was also recognised, who was awarded the Replica of Honour Prize.
The gala started in a musical tone shortly after five in the afternoon. The hosts of the award ceremony promised “a night of awards and emotion”, with the participation of the President of the Replica Association, Raúl Morán, who emphasized that these awards are given “to showcase our sector and reward the artistic quality” of the Islands. “We have 13 reasons to be proud,” he said, referring to the number of editions of the gala, and spoke about the need for “Canarian society to find theatre companies and their work necessary and useful.” Morán celebrated that these regional awards “are able to transcend beyond just one island” and therefore highlighted that these awards must continue “because our culture deserves no less.” He recalled that the Replica Association has been fighting for almost 20 years to improve the sector and, although it has focused on the reality of theatre for a long time, “we do not neglect dance and circus either.”
The recipient of the Replica of Honour Prize, Ángel Camacho Cabrera, received the recognition to a standing ovation from the audience. At his age, he did not expect to receive this acknowledgment and thus felt “honoured” to be able to share it, furthermore, “with companies and colleagues who helped spread my work since I began producing in 1959.”
The author of “I Killed Kurt Cobain”, Rosa Escrig, was the one to receive the Replica Award for Best Adult Show and expressed her gratitude to all the women she has encountered throughout her life. “I hope this award materialises into more gigs, please,” requested the Gran Canaria playwright. On the other hand, Severiano García, Replica Award for Best Direction, recalled how “tremendously challenging” it is to carry out a theatrical production and, despite this, made an appeal to the younger people: “Trust, damn it!”
During the gala, where some demands were made, such as the need for the Government of Canarias to already call for production aid, awards were given in up to ten categories. Germán Arias, Fernando Montoya, and Ramón Turbio received the Replica Award for Best Sound Space for “Sins, the cabaret of the flesh” (Producciones Escénicas Clapso); Aristeo Mora and Lucía Ortiz won in the Best Set Design category for their work in “Where Oblivion Does Not Dwell” (La Intempesta); Nauzet Afonso won the Replica for Best Costume for his work in “RATS, a very unhygienic comedy” (La inesperada Producciones) and Ibán Negrín did the same for Best Lighting for his participation in “Protocol of the Breakage” (unahoramenos Producciones). The Replica Award for Best Original Authorship went to Romina R. Medina for “Where Oblivion Does Not Dwell”. “Canarii. Páis Adentro” (Macanda Producciones) won the Replica for Best Dance Show and “The Rattle of Pulcinella. Opera All’Improvvis” (Bypass Teatro) won in the Best Family Show category. The Replica Award for Best Performance was awarded, ex aequo, to Mingo Ruano and Marta Viera for “Protocol of the Breakage,” and to Blanca Rodríguez for “What Laughter Hides.”
