Three men and three women on a line in front of a white wall

Forced Entertainment

The British theatre group Forced Entertainment was the winner of the 2016 International Ibsen Award.

The Forced Entertainment theatre collective was established in Sheffield, England by Tim Etchells in 1984, and the group is renowned for its ground-breaking, genre-defying theatrical approach. Forced Entertainment have made their mark within performance theatre in particular, but in recent years also investigated the theatrical possibilities of exploiting the potential of video and digital platforms. In its statement, the International Ibsen Award Committee said that “the committee has chosen to honour this continually surprising and not least entertaining theatre group, because Forced Entertainment revive and challenge the theatre, and recognise and utilise the power inherent in the art form. Forced Entertainment take the theatre’s role within society deeply seriously.”