PLAY! (Nuevos Dramáticos)

Synopsis

It is December 2023 and a group of children are playing in the street. What happens next has to do with why mum never has time to play with me, why dad doesn’t let me have his phone which he uses all the time; it has to do with children and play, but, above all, it has to do with phubbing, with the digital sadness and with the productivism that has robbed us adults of the time to play with the people we love the most.   

Note from the author and director 

I break inside when I see a child on a terrace, staring at a mobile phone, as if they could find in it what we adults don’t know or don’t want to give him. I want to get up and tell those people: “Please pay attention to your child! They need to be looked at, talked to, played with!” We seem to have forgotten what it feels like when someone you love ignores you, but that’s exactly what they feel. When a child is ignored, he or she feels rejection, loneliness and sadness. I see eyes full of hope and admiration begging; asking us, without saying a word, for a token of affection, for a little piece of us. I am hurt by our tiredness, by our worries. It hurts me to see how give them our mobile phones for them to disconnect and for us to be able to continue to enjoy ourselves, oblivious to that harm. I am hurt by our lack of affection, our lack of desire to be with them. It pains me deeply that they feel they are a nuisance. I am upset by the concept of childless hotels, childless plane journeys, and childless restaurants. I ask myself, where is that place and time where children can be children? Why are we adults less and less present? Why have we stopped playing with our children? What do the children themselves have to tell us about this? 

This piece wants to ask us questions, to invite us to reflect and shake up our thinking about this alarming unhappiness that affects more than 32% of children in Spain. It is the result of a precious and intense process of work, interviews and play with Nuevos Dramatists. It is a reflection of their fears, desires and aspirations. It is that infinite smile that perhaps we need in order for us to wake up, look them in the eye and have the courage to explain why we are failing them: why we adults are failing the best of humanity. 

María Goiricelaya