Peter Zadek and the Europe Theatre Prize

In Thessaloniki, this year's awarding of the Europe Theatre Prize (60,000 euros), sponsored by the EU and the Greek Ministry of Culture, was accompanied by a small scandal. Originally, the Canadian playwright Robert Lepage and the German director Peter Zadek were to share the prize. However, Zadek was deprived of his half after announcing he would be unable to attend the prize-giving ceremony owing to rehearsals. Dirk Pilz reports: "From the beginning of the four-day meeting visitors heard the rumours, but there was no official statement, simply a reference to the statute that those who didn't turn up wouldn't receive anything. Zadek remained in Berlin and sent a cold letter to the organisers telling them they were behaving ridiculously: he thought he was receiving the prize for his life's work, not for flying with Olympic Airlines. ... The organisers' reaction was one of insulted pride and (as on a number of other occasions) they ended up causing an organisational chaos. The Canadian Robert Lepage travelled to Greece, showed highlights from his most recent works and received half of the prize money, as agreed."

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