LA VIDA CRÓNICA (THE CHRONIC LIFE)

A ruthless and sarcastic vision of the human condition.

- CORRIERE DELLA SERA

With The Chronic Life, the Odin Teatret company once again comes up with an example of the exceptional and outstanding work which has been its trademark since its creation in 1964. Premiered in 2011 in Holstebro (Denmark), this short piece, directed by the respected Italian playwright Eugenio Barba, stirs consciences and anticipates the apocalypse predicted by many for the new millennium.

The story unfolds simultaneously in different countries of Europe in 2031, after the Third Civil War which has been triggered by human greed and intolerance. The widow of a Basque officer, a Danish lawyer, a black Madonna, two mercenaries, a Colombian boy searching for his father, a Chechnyan refugee, a Rumanian housewife, a rock musician from the Faroe Islands and an Italian street violinist are the wide-ranging cast of characters whose paths cross while contemplating a disorientating and dark future.

Into this bleak panorama of displacement, war and unemployment comes a boy from Latin America looking for his missing father. As the title of the play suggests, the audience will observe that, whatever happens to humanity, life will always be a chronic illness.

In this production, which will be performed for the first time in Spain at this year's Festival de Otoño en primavera, the audience will feel like they are inside a sort of harmonious Tower of Babel made up of the actors from different countries and cultures who are part of Odin Teatret but they will also realise how a vacuum can provoke fanatic nationalism. Using this approach, Barba once more pursues his interest in anthropology, always present throughout his career, inside what has been described as the "Third Theatre".

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