Drama, humour and tenderness combine in this play by the renowned Catalan playwright, which speaks to us about childhood on the basis of an apparently chance meeting. It is directed by one of the founders of the Teatro Timbre 4 in Buenos Aires.
A member of the security staff at a commercial establishment has accompanied an elderly woman to one of the rooms they make people go to who are suspected of stealing something. Once inside this anodyne white room, devoid of any personality or decoration, the woman refuses to open her bag. What at first seems an anecdotal tug-of-war ends up leading to an unexpected situation when she recognises the young man as one of the pupils she taught to read and write when he was little. A few days later, the security worker meets up with two more ex-students of this woman who have also had a seemingly chance meeting with her. Now they are three adults in situations and circumstance that have nothing to do with each other but with the same tie: as kids they all shared this same teacher who has turned up again in their lives. This coincidence gives rise to a number of questions: is the meeting between the former teacher and her pupils the result of chance or not? If not, why did she choose them and what was her purpose in looking for them? Who were those children and that teacher? And, above all, what kind of adults have they become? The play, arranged in a system of intersecting stories and situations, acts as a brainteaser where we gradually discover Irene’s meetings with each of the pupils and find out their current realities and situations but also recall a time they shared, a learning space in which their lives as children were still a blank sheet of paper.
L’habitació blanca is the new play by Josep Maria Miró, the author of works such as Temps salvatge (Max Award for Best Theatrical Author in 2019), Cúbit, Nerium Park, Fum, El principi d’Arquimedes and Gang Bang, as well as dramas and adaptations such as L’amic retrobat and Neus Català, un cel de plom. This time, Miró has chosen to write an intimate work that combines drama, humour, tenderness and reflection. It recalls that idea of Sartre’s that “childhood decides” and puts the magnifying glass on that white room and founding space that is childhood.
A 2020 Barcelona Grec Festival and Sala Flyhard co-production.
In collaboration with Teatro Timbre 4.
With the support of the Barcelona City Council Institute of Culture, the Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises and the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music under the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
Creator Josep Maria Miró i Coromina Director: Lautaro Perotti Assistant director: Concha Milla Cast: Francesca Piñon, Albert Prat, Paula Blanco, Marc Rodríguez Set design and costumes: Albert Pascual Lighting design: Xavi Gardés Image: Roser Blanch Executive producers: Clara Cols, Sergio Matamala Communication and social media: Eli Riera Photography: Roser Blanch
