Results of the call for entries for the New Yorick Award
6th June 2023
We know the winners of the New Yorick Award for directors at the beginning of their careers. We received as many as twenty-seven submissions this year!

Laureates of the New Yorick 2023 Competition:

Jan Kamiński “Ryszard III” (by the Helena Modrzejewska Theatre in Legnica)
Jan Marek Kamiński’s presentation convinced us with the maturity of the approach. His explication of “Richard III” combines a deep philosophical foundation with an imaginative staging concept. In doing so, the director’s ideas flow from Shakespeare’s drama, rather than trying to force a thesis onto it. All of this gives hope for the realisation of a sketch of a performance carrying contemporary and universal content, in which visual appeal will become a harmonious whole with the world of meanings. – Jacek Głomb, Director of the Helena Modrzejewska Theatre in Legnica

Pamela Leończyk and Daria Sobik “Zimowa Opowieść” (by the Zygmunt Hübner Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw)
Therapy culture is becoming an increasingly important part of our social functioning. That is why the performance of Pamela Leończyk and Daria Sobik convinced us with its brave idea for a deeply psychological interpretation of Shakespeare’s Winter Tale, based on the essential question – “what does the play tell us about trauma?” At the same time, deepening the characters’ psychology and immersing them in a contemporary therapeutic theory provides ample acting space for the themes of Leontes’ jealousy and ways of dealing with compulsive reactions to resonate. – Paweł Sztarbowski, Deputy Programme Director of the Zygmunt Hübner Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw

Mira Mańka “Lover’s complaint” based on Shakespeare’s poem A Lover’s complaint (by the Polish Theatre in Poznań)
I decided to choose Mira Mańka’s project to be produced at the Polish Theatre in Poznań_1875 because it seemed fresh and opened new, contemporary perspectives on an old master. Firstly, because the young director turned to literary material that is not obvious for the theatre – sonnets. In the age of turbo-impressionism, these works are perhaps more likely to find public acclaim than others in Shakespeare’s oeuvre. Secondly, she offered to look at the work from a very contemporary perspective of inclusive practices that involve people with alternative to the mainstream sensory sensitivities. It is both intriguing and opening. I am waiting for the effect of this theatrical gesture with great excitement. – Maciej Nowak, Artistic Director of the Polish Theatre in Poznań_1875

The originator of the New Yorick competition is Łukasz Drewniak, theatre critic, editor, and selector of the Golden Yorick competition, who has worked with the Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival for many years. As he says: “The Shakespeare Festival does not want the reception of Shakespeare to die out in Poland, especially in the younger generation. We want to encourage directors to confront the Stratfordian’s dramas, to reward the most interesting adaptations and takes on his classic themes, and to nurture later potential competition winners. Hence the idea of a new, two-stage competition – the New Yorick – complementary to the Golden Yorick.”

The New Yorick statuette will be awarded as part of the 27th international Shakespeare Festival Three “work-in-progress” presentations will compete for it, prepared by the laureates with theatres invited to collaborate by the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre – the Polish Theatre in Poznań, the Helena Modrzejewska Theatre in Legnica, and the Zygmunt Hübner Powszechny Theatre from Warsaw.

The competition received twenty-seven entries from directing students from all schools in Poland, directors at the beginning of their career, and art collectives. The selection was made by the directors of the above-mentioned theatres – Paweł Sztarbowski, Maciej Nowak, Jacek Głomb – who chose three adaptations which they will produce with their acting troupe. Each of the productions will be funded by the organisers of the international Shakespeare Festival with PLN 25,000 as part of the financial part of the prize. They will be presented as ‘work in progress’ during the festival and judged by an international jury (names in the second part of the announcement).

Each of the awarded projects may enter the repertoire of the theatre that will present it at the Festival, as a full-length production (the theatres reserve the priority in preparing the full version and further exploitation of the performance realised within the framework of this cooperation), or it may interest the directors of other stages, thus gaining the possibility of participating in the competition for the Golden Yorick at the next Shakespeare Festival.

The competition is organised by the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre and Theatrum Gedanesense Foundation as part of the 27th international Shakespeare Theatre.