Office to make the invisible visible – Revista Teatre Barcelona

That theater should be a reflection of contemporary life is something we have been debating for centuries. Does the theater have to show life with its difficulties? Should it show the complexity of the world, the hard part, the things we don’t understand? Or is it better for the performing arts to be a pleasurable refuge that helps us escape the pain of the world?

The playwright Núria Vizcarro he has it clear and with his new show Office of independent living it wants to make the invisible visible, it wants to talk about the microaggressions experienced by people with functional diversity. “We creators must be aware that fictions create realities,” she says. Vizcarro’s proposal is at the center of this fiction Eladio Herranzan actor with functional diversity who embodies a worker of the Office of Independent Living, a real resource that advises and accompanies diverse people in their development as autonomous and independent agents in social, educational and work environments.

Vizcarro wanted the dialogue about ableist microaggressions not to be limited to the script and opted for a show with a comedic tone, fully accessible with self-description and a sign language interpreter participating in the dramatic action. In the end, he explains, the piece is a mirror of the system of privileges that reflects, from the point of view of humor, on what we understand by normativity.

Office of independent living can be seen until November 30 at Sala Beckett under the direction of Carmen Marfà Liveswho remembers that casting has been one of the biggest challenges of the project. “We were clear that the protagonist had to be a person with functional diversity, but there are few opportunities for this type of performer and, therefore, little professionalization.” Luckily, he points out, things are changing and spaces are being created that encourage everyone to be represented. In this sense, Marfà highlights the role of the playwright and director Claudia Cedó as a catalyst for these changes and remembers that it is she who has opened the door to the professionalization of various actors and actresses in the field of theatre. The goal, in the end, is for our theater system to welcome more Eladios, more Claudias, more Martes and more Núries to put up more mirrors and stop making the difference invisible.

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