The Characters International Competition of Russian-language Drama, founded by the Moscow Theatre School of Modern Drama and the Russian State Art Library (RSAL), was held for the 18th time. From 21 countries, 367 plays were submitted to the competition. The theatre jury, consisting of young directors, selected 10 plays. All of which were published in the collection The Best Plays of 2020, and five of them were presented on the same evening by the Class of the Young Directing Laboratory on the stage of the School of Modern Drama.
It is significant that the selection of RSAL’s jury, for which the literary basis of the play is of primary importance, did not coincide with the directors’ top ten. The favourite was Yuri Lugin’s drama Burned, which takes place in early 1945, in an orphanage.
In congratulating the winners, the Artistic Director of the competition, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation I.L. Raichelgauz, drew attention to the uniqueness of this competition. For the most part, the plays were written during the pandemic, and perhaps one day our descendants will use them for the study of human behavior during this difficult period.
