Forced Entertainment win International Ibsen Award

UK live art and theatre company Forced Entertainment have been announced as this year's recipients of the prestigious International Ibsen Award.

It will be the first time the award has been given to a UK resident artist and the first time the prize has gone to a group rather than an individual.

The International Ibsen Award recognises an individual, institution or organisation in art and culture that has made an extraordinary contribution to the spirit of Norwegian playwright Ibsen.

The boundary-breaking Sheffield-based Forced Entertainment have been making work since 1984. Made up of six artists – Robin Arthur, Tim Etchells (Artistic Director), Richard Lowdon (Designer), Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden, Terry O’Connor – Forced Entertainment make installations, site-specific work, theatre and performance art that explores what performance means in today's world. Their most recent shows in London were the Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare at the Barbican Theatre.

Etchells said: "On behalf of all six members of Forced Entertainment I am very happy to receive this prestigious award. The list of previous winners is formidable and we feel honoured to be alongside them. We also feel that giving this award to Forced Entertainment recognises a whole area of contemporary practice away from the literary mainstream; an area of experiment and work across art forms that has consistently championed experimental approaches to performance, from group work to devising and improvisation."

The International Ibsen Award Committee consists of seven people appointed by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture, who travel around the world to see performances linked to nominees. It is given every two years and the winner receives 2.5 million Norwegian kroner (£200,000).

Previous winners include Peter Brook in 2008, Peter Handke in 2014, Ariane Mnouchkine of Theatre du Soleil in 2009 and dramatist Jon Fosse in 2010.

The prize will be given at a ceremony in Oslo in September during the International Ibsen Festival, where the company will also perform a symposium of their work.

Find out more about why Forced Entertainment won the award here: