An author known for the autofictional nature of his creations now enters a new terrain: an alternate fiction in the form of a dramatised reading, where he speaks about the pandemic in the voice of five healthcare workers.
This project is written, directed and staged by Sergio Blanco, the French-Uruguayan dramatist and theatre director. It features a team of five healthcare workers who have been in various healthcare centres during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is being presented to the public in the form of a dramatised reading. The team is made up of a doctor, a nurse, a hospital porter, a cleaner and a social worker. They will be on stage with Blanco to present this text, written to be performed by the author and the five healthcare workers.
After many years of experimenting with the world of autofiction, the French-Uruguayan artist presents a new challenge: entering the terrain of what he calls alterfiction. Blanco explains that, during the lockdown period, he decided that he wanted to add this idea of “alterfiction” to his autofictional work. He explains, “as time went on, I gradually realised that I was starting to need other people’s stories, other people's experiences, other people's bodies [...]. And above all, I started feeling the need to hear their stories and to construct fiction based on their experiences. [...] Then this term alterfiction came to mind, along with the idea of working with the same procedures I use for autofiction, but this time based on the stories of other people, those others that I needed to find.”
COVID-451 is a show that takes a light-hearted, elegant and irreverent look at these two places of healing, hospitals and theatres. It does so by using true stories —and others that aren't so true— told by five typical healthcare workers, seeking the “theatrical” nature of the hospital system's organisation, while also trying to showcase the “hospitality” that can be found in the theatrical system. With regard to this matter, remember that in Ancient Greece, theatres were built near the temples dedicated to Asclepius, their god of medicine. Blanco concludes that, “the fact that these two locations where physically close to one another reveals the profound proximity of two places that shared the gift of healing.”
A 2020 Barcelona Grec Festival production.
Playwright, director and performer: Sergio Blanco Performance: Lucas Ilzarbe Sánchez (doctor), María Eugenia Casanova (nurse), Ivan Requena Palomares (hospital porter), Anna Abadia Escartín (social worker), Sascha Sofía Ormaza Loor (cleaner) Artistic collaboration: Philippe Koscheleff Local production: Sandra Casals, Clara Giménez General production and circulation: Matilde López Espasandín Aknowledgements: Raúl González Rodríguez, Hospital del Mar, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Hospital Vall d’Hebron, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Hospital Universitari Dexeus – Grup Quirónsalud, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol de Badalona (Can Ruti), Col·legi Oficial d’Infermeres i Infermers de Barcelona
