Are machines the only reminders of what life was like on Earth?

was born It began to take shape during the quarantine caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. At that time, the future seemed so uncertain that my imagination could only create fantasies related to a world on the brink of collapse, because what else could I write when reality itself turned into a dystopia? To give it a unique touch, I decided to incorporate more sci-fi elements. I was excited by the idea of ​​experimenting with this genre, which, while widely explored in film and fiction, has not been explored much in theater due to technical limitations.

At the same time, I proposed that this future story, though far removed from my reality, would reflect my personal history, specifically my childhood and the strange journey into adulthood that we all face when we leave childhood. In some way, was born When I was ten years old, I became a fan of videos that became the representation of what I considered adulthood. MTVmovies Spielberg I spent long afternoons without adult supervision while my parents worked.

During the initial writing process, I was lucky enough to win an invitation to participate in the dramaturgical laboratory of the Integrated Bio Bio Theater. Andres Galina Y Santiago Loza, whose experience and keen insight contributed significantly to shaping and polishing the work. Finally, “Thalis” turned out to be a unique combination of different genres: science fiction, road movie and romantic drama.

In the plot, Tindra and Luvin, two orphaned brothers, embark on a journey with Baby, an android abandoned by its former owners, with the aim of reaching the last functioning cosmodrome. However, the road is difficult: food is scarce, the distances are endless, and nothing is as they imagined. While the promise of Talis is alluring, the only thing that keeps them strong and giving them meaning is that they will sacrifice what they want in order to try to achieve it.

Looking at the end, in the future, when humanity disappears, the only thing that preserves our memories is the machines, which will become the last vestiges of our history, and perhaps new species will discover it. We can make better decisions about our existence, which is full of wars, inequality and exploitation. For this reason, the character of Baby plays an important role as the narrator of the story, describing precisely everything that happened through fragments, glitches and repetitions: where can the uninvited go? Colonize a new planet? Why was I created to live forever?

On the other hand, while taking it to the stage, the actors and I faced the challenge of creating a futuristic universe with only words. We realized that it was futile to try to represent the various scenes of the play. First, trying to overcome the dreamlike and hyperrealistic images that the general public is accustomed to thanks to movies and series is an impossible task. Second, we all agreed that the real power of drama lies in the bodies of the actors and the imagination of the audience. We wanted to recreate the ancient ritual of story-telling by the campfire, where a storyteller’s voice and body were enough to captivate the audience.

So, from the beginning, our goal was to occupy the empty space to represent the impossible and stimulate the viewer’s imagination, creating images of the story in their minds. During rehearsals, the actors worked intensively on their bodies and the limited number of items the characters carry on their journey. We found a stage space and rules that allowed us to embrace the void and clearly understand the popular phrase. Peter Brook In dramaturgy: “A man walks through this empty space, and someone else sees him, and that’s all it takes for the play to take place.”

We are very grateful and amazed by the topics this work has allowed us to reflect on. Even during the assembly process, many questions arose, the answers to which we have not yet found, perhaps we can reflect together with the reader of this note and the viewer of the work: Why is science trying to create artificial intelligence with what we can? Sympathy and bonding? Why is colonizing a new planet a more viable option than recreating our own?

* Author “DHALIS – Fragments of an Artificial Memory” Director. From Saturday 7 October. Saturdays at 6:30pm at the Beckett Teatro (Guardia Vieja 3556, CABA). General Admission: $4000. (Presale $3500 through 9/20, via Alternativa.