Carles Alberola wins the 2026 Born Theatre Award with "Marble Tears"
The Valencian playwright and actor imposes himself among 211 texts with a work centered on the conversation between a grandmother and her grandson in front of a hospital
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MenorcaThe Valencian playwright and actor Carles Alberola has won the 2026 Born Theatre Award with the play "Llàgrimes de marbre" (Marble Tears). The award, organized by the Cercle Artístic de Ciutadella, carries a prize of 14,000 euros and includes the publication of the work in the official languages of the State.
This 51st edition of the award received 211 texts from 13 autonomous communities and 14 countries. "Llàgrimes de marbre", submitted under the pseudonym Mallotina, was chosen as the winner, while "En una cambra obscura aquesta nit assenyalada" (In a dark room on this marked night), submitted under the pseudonym Rumrum, was named a finalist.
Alberola's work begins with an apparently everyday situation: a grandmother and her grandson are talking while sitting on the terrace of a cafeteria in front of a hospital. As the conversation progresses, the conflicts of a family marked by an absence begin to emerge.
The jury particularly valued the text's ability to build an emotional story with few resources, using humor and well-defined characters. It also highlighted the figure of Dolors, a woman with her own voice, incisive and full of contradictions, who uses irony to get closer to her grandson and face her fears.
The relationship between Dolors and Joan evolves through agile exchanges, moments of resistance, and complicity. Humor thus serves to address issues such as grief and vulnerability without losing the vitality of the conversation.
