The Sever Awards Conferred

This year, the Stane Sever Foundation Award for acting in professional theatres goes to Blaž Setnikar, a member of the ensemble of the Prešeren Theatre Kranj, and Marjuta Slamič, a member of the ensemble of the Slovene National Theatre in Nova Gorica.

The competition took place between 15 September 2019 and 15 September 2021. The winners were selected from among the nominated professional and amateur actors and drama students by a jury of experts, composed of the president Nataša Barbara Gračner and members Silva Čušin, Tea Rogelj, Diana Koloini and Zala Dobovšek

Marjuta Slamič received the Sever Award for her performance as Bogdana in Simona Semenič's comedy rowan, strudel, dance, and more, directed by Jure Novak.
The 2021 production is a co-production of the Slovenian National Theatre Nova Gorica and the Mladinsko Theatre. "In the role of a parish house housekeeper, she has enhanced her gift for natural and detailed delivery - so typical of Marjuta's acting in front of the camera - with a sense of the comic, sensuality, and a coastal temperament. In doing so, she has used all the advantages of expressing herself in her native Ajdovščina dialect," the jury wrote in their explanatory note, adding that Marjuta Slamič has shaped Bogdana with warmth and a subtle understanding of the common man, so it is not surprising that the audience immediately falls for and love this full-blooded figure.

Blaž Setnikar received the Sever Award for his role of Osvald Alving in Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, directed by Igor Vuk Torbica, and his portrayal of the "Slehernik" in Father Romuald (Lovrenec Marušič's) Škofja Loka Passion Play, directed by Jernej Lorencij.
According to the jury, Setnikar intensely animates the role of Osvald, in accordance with his subtle acting and his exceptional harmony with the director’s concept, which depicts Ibsen's play with a strong precision of the present moment. "The modernity and topicality of Setnikar's play lie not only in the personal complexity but above all in the precise dosage and balance between the psychological opposites," the jury pointed out. In the double role of Adam and Christ in the production of the Škofja Loka Passion Play, Setnikar faced a completely different task, which, as the jury pointed out, he embodied perfectly with his original acting expressiveness. In contrast to the psychologically complex development of the individual from the realistic drama, here he was given the static, almost monolithic figure of the common man. But he also molded this into a unique complexity by fusing the characters of the guilty, the victim, and the savior at the same time.

This year, the Sever Award for the Drama Student is a group prize, which went to Diana Kolenc, Maks Dakskobler and Nejc Jezernik for their roles in David Harrower's Knives in Hens. The students created a complex, multi-layered and convincing image of complicated interpersonal relationships through an in-depth and analytical reading of the play.

This year, the award for acting in Slovenian amateur theatre went to Bojan Trampuš, a member of the Loška Stage Škofja Loka, for his performance as Saša in Janusz Glowacki's Antigone in New York.
"He creates the role of a homeless New Yorker with apparent ease, although it is driven by an extremely precise and thoughtful internal dissection of complex psychological states. Together with his co-actors, he is consistent in his unpredictability, but above all, he deftly measures and catches the delicate balance between the comic and the tragic," said the jury, adding that he never takes away from the strength or attention of his co-actors at the expense of his own acting, but rather intertwines and complements them.

The Sever Awards remain one of the most prestigious theatre awards, alongside those of the Maribor Theatre Festival and the almost simultaneously established Week of Slovenian Drama in Kranj. They are awarded by the fund established in Škofja Loka in the year after the actor's death, and its work is supported by the municipality, the Slovenian Public Fund for Cultural Activities and donors. This year, the 100^th award was given to professional actresses and actors, the 50^th award to students, and the 50^th award to amateur actresses and actors. And there are even more recipients, as the prize has been shared several times.

We extend our congratulation to all the winners.