What is a corpse? – Aeolia Theatre

In 1964, a woman died in New York in front of 37 witnesses. Or so says the New York Times. Through the case Kitty Genovesethe work shows how the same corpse can be used to justify inaction and invasion. And how this mechanism remains active. But there are also other voices. People who have experienced the war from the inside. And they also explain their version. And despite all these stories, how do you continue?

What is a corpse? is a fragmented piece of theater that reflects on the war from the intimate and everyday. The play does not speak of a single armed conflict, but of many wars: those of history and those of the present. Through multiple scenes and voices, a critical, poetic and uncomfortable gaze is built around a central question: who constructs the stories about war and violence, why and for whom? The dramaturgy has been nourished by interviews conducted with direct witnesses of the war in Ukraine, Syrian refugees, ex-military and people affected by conflicts in Afghanistan, as well as the chronicles and reports of journalist and war reporter Plácid Garcia-Planas, an essential source of inspiration. The thought of Rutger Bregman — his defense that the natural tendency of humans is to cooperate, to trust and to take care of ourselves — crosses the work as a question and as a horizon. The work is built in three acts. The first questions the media and political narratives we have built around violence, starting with the Kitty Genovese case. The second gives space to the voices of those who have experienced the war first hand — experiences that they do not explain, but confront. The third explores hope not as consolation but as struggle, and the difference between empathy and compassion as political tools.

Winning show of the Barcelona Crea Scholarship – Eòlia Miranda Foundation 2025 with the support of‘ICUB and Barcelona City Council