The playwright María Velasco (Burgos, 40 years old) has been awarded this Thursday with the National Prize for Dramatic Literature corresponding to the year 2024 for her work First blood. The text, premiered in May at the Valle-Inclán theater in Madrid, directed by the author herself and produced by the National Dramatic Center (CDN), invokes the memory of a girl kidnapped and murdered in the nineties in Burgos, whose case was dismissed without the guilty being found. The objective is to reflect on the naturalization of sexual violence, childhood abuses or the terror with which the girls of their generation grew up due to crimes like this one or the most publicized one of the time, that of the Alcàsser girls, who left to the street with fear and “asking for forgiveness, with the feeling that the public space was not theirs,” Velasco wrote in the show’s program.
The play, which was also awarded the 31st SGAE Jardiel Poncela Theater Award in 2022, will be performed from November 14 to 24 at the National Theater of Catalonia (Barcelona), on November 29 and 30 at the Teatre El Musical in Valencia and on March 21 and 22, 2025 at the Central in Seville.
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The award, Granted by the Ministry of Culture, it is endowed with 30,000 euros. In its argument, the jury highlights from the winning title “the dramatic force of a fabled text, with beautiful lyrical language.” [… ] With a unique and very personal style, María Velasco manages to bring theater as an art to its maximum expression, communicating, with direct dialogue, a story designed in a completely scenic way. Halfway between the memorial, the document and the Gothic story, first blood “It encourages us to reflect on realities that distress the entire social fabric and confronts us, with exquisite delicacy, with the terror caused by the abuse and deaths of women and girls.”
Nevertheless, first blood flees from the macabre and even seeks humor within a world of violence. After the premiere of the work in Madrid, in May, Velasco declared to this newspaper: “All my works arise from self-inquiry, when I come across something that worries me or hurts me. But it is not an individual inquiry, but rather shared concerns, shared searches with women my age, with actresses from different generations and people around me.”
In a telephone conversation with EL PAÍS from Mexico, where she is participating in a cycle of creative women, Velasco today admitted her joy at the “unexpected institutional recognition” of a theater like hers, “that formally moves in no man’s land, between contemporary and popular scenic languages.” At the same time, he recognizes that his works are not easy either due to their themes, often covered by the same systemic violence against the weak and the dead that he addresses. First blood. “Although it has a very loyal audience, I know that it is an arduous theater, still difficult for the spectators. That is why I believe in the need to continue influencing it.”
Moment from the play ‘First Blood’, by María Velasco.National Dramatic Center
Hardened in the alternative scene of Madrid, Velasco has jumped into more institutional circuits in recent years to become one of the most impactful voices in contemporary Spanish dramaturgy. Among its titles are: hunting scenes (2018), The foam of the days (2019); I will cut down men from the face of the earth (Max 2021 award for best playwright) and Harakiri (2022). In April 2025 he will premiere a new piece, The aliens will come and have your eyes, in Ship 10 of Matadero Madrid.
Born in 1984, the creator has a doctorate in Audiovisual Communication from the Complutense University and a master’s degree in Performing Practice and Visual Culture from the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum and the University of Alcalá. For two years he was a member of the Institute of Cinematography and Visual Arts. He has also produced and directed some of his shows since 2013 and has made adaptations for the Teatro de la Zarzuela and dramaturgies for dance companies. In addition, he has published film theory, essays and narrative, and more than a dozen plays. He has received distinctions such as the Max Aub–Ciutat de València Award (2017), the Heidelberger Stückemarkt International Award (2022) and the Max Award for Best Theatrical Authorship (2022). His texts for theater have been translated into several languages (French, Italian, English, German, Turkish…).
The jury was chaired by Jesús González, deputy director general for the Promotion of Books, Reading and Spanish Literature. Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, proposed by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), has acted as members; Euloxio R. Ruibal, by the Royal Galician Academy; Arantzazu Fernández Iglesias, for the Royal Academy of the Basque Language; Enric Gallén Miret, for the Institute of Catalan Studies; Maria Àngels Francés, for the Valencian Academy of Language; José Vicente Peiró, for the Spanish Association of Literary Critics; Carolina Fernández, for the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE); Guillermo Laín, for the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE); María Jesús Bajo, for the Collegiate Association of Writers of Spain-Association of Theater Authors (ACE-ATT); Raquel García-Pascual, for the Center for Gender Studies of the UNED; Irene Pardo, for the Ministry of Culture, and Paula Carballeira, awarded in the previous edition.
In its last edition, the award recognized Paula Carballeira, joining a long list of winners, among whom are Pablo Remón, Guillem Clua, Alberto Conejero, Yolanda García Serrano, Alfredo Sanzol, Juan Mayorga and Angélica Liddell, among others.
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