The micro theater gives 15 minutes of fame to the most neglected diseases on the planet

The lights are on;

the scenarios, ready;

the make-up and wardrobe, immaculate.

Just a couple of hours ago, the actresses and actors finished their set-up before introducing themselves to viewers.

There is no curtain, no dozens of seats and no extensive scripts.

"In 15 minutes we try to connect people with our stories... We go straight to the core," says Verónica Larios, founder and manager of Madrid Microteatro.

Short performances are a relatively new theatrical style in Spain, with a little more than 12 years of experience.

“We are the pioneers,” she says, flashing a proud smile.

Although the micro theater maintains the characteristics of the traditional format, it shortens the length of a play, the stage and the number of attendees to 15 minutes, 15 meters and 15 spectators.

“It is very complex to summarize a work that could last an hour to a quarter of the time.

That's where the art is, we have to hook our audience”, Larios reaffirms on the first floor of this cultural center located in the heart of Gran Vía. And, in this case, with the added difficulty of the theme: forgotten diseases.

In the background, the voices of the characters from the eight works that are part of the

Festival intermingle , an initiative created in 2012 by the Anesvad Foundation and Madrid Microteatro.

The objective is to raise awareness about the lack of access to basic rights such as health and drinking water, and to make possible the investigation of neglected tropical diseases in countries such as the Ivory Coast, Togo, Ghana and Benin, where the Foundation has been operating for more than 50 years.

Dying from stomach poisoning is unthinkable in European countries, but in Africa this can happen.

It's very hard, that's why we use comedy as the seasoning that makes indigestible things a little more bearable.

Nancho Novo, director of the work Bendita Sanidad

In the world there are still 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) identified by the World Health Organization that affect one billion people.

Of these, more than 90% live in 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Neglected diseases are neglected because they are in neglected territories.

They do not imply potential buyers of technology, nor are they of interest to pharmaceutical companies, because they do not affect the global north”, argues Jéssica Domínguez, Anesvad's awareness manager.

"We don't want to give you the badge, but for this to change also requires our commitment," she says.

This is well known to the directors of works such as

.

The preparation of the functions – from the launch of the call to the exit on stage – takes at least seven months.

Together with the Anesvad Foundation, dedicated to the care of four of the 20 NTDs, the directors have managed to connect with some problems that prevent the eradication of diseases such as leprosy, with 140,000 new cases in 2021;

or Yaws, which affects 90,000 people worldwide and can be treated with a single dose of azithromycin.

“Dying from stomach poisoning is unthinkable in European countries, but in Africa this can happen.

It's very hard, that's why we use comedy as the seasoning that makes indigestible things a little more bearable”, launches the writer and director of

, actor Nancho Novo.

Moment of the play 'I was on the right track and I got lost', in which the characters are diseases that talk to each other.

Alvaro Garcia

“We found the ideal recipe to approach very hard problems around the right to health;

we also believe in the power of art to raise awareness and reach people”, argues Domínguez, from Anesvad, while inviting the curious to immerse themselves in the fictional world of microtheatre, which connects them with real but silenced problems.

Waiting in the basement are the bold and stylish Casta, and the delicate and cautious Pura.

Both characters have evolved over the years.

They have visited Africa to save an NGO from bankruptcy, they have helped a woman victim of human trafficking, they have been mayor of their cities and dismissed shortly after, and now they are part of Miss Africa 2022 representing their fictional city: The Archbishop's balls, the actors Julián Salguero and Miguel Ángel Jiménez reveal the name with laughter.

This year's concept is to talk about the problems of access to drinking water and its impact on health.

"We show the direct relationship between neglected tropical diseases and lack of safe water," says Jiménez.

Together with the duo, on stage number two, the comedy

by the journalist, actress and director Laura Auzmendi, is cooked.

The setting is austere: a blackboard, a table and little else nourish the story of a reporter who travels to Africa to investigate the process of creating a new cosmetic product.

“We take the opportunity to highlight the role of the media when it comes to denouncing poverty, inequality.

We want to show how the problems that the countries of the Global South are going through are hidden or minimized, ”she clarifies.

In 'Interplanetary Medical Emergency Services', a group of workers from a switchboard have to save the life of a pregnant woman who lives on a small distant planet.

Alvaro Garcia

The audience leaves one room and enters another.

Emotions are confused between laughter, surprise and reflection.

A pregnant woman has died due to the distance between one planet and another.

"The lack of means and the slow intervention of the health system has claimed the lives of two people," says Paco, one of the actors of

.

“It is not that there are no hospitals in Africa, it is that they prioritize care for tourists and people who have money to pay for this service.”

The intimacy that is built makes the public bond, empathize and understand that there are problems and forgotten diseases.

"I am lymphatic filariasis, my disease is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito," one of the actors introduces himself.

“I have the Buruli ulcer and I am never going to be cured because no one is interested in finding my cure,” underlines another of the characters with resignation.

The most recent to arrive, desperate and not understanding what is happening to him, refuses to accept that he is Pian, a type of papilloma that mainly affects children and adolescents under 15 years of age.

The scene belongs to the play

of the playwright Edgar Costas.

The three characters are united by the same problem: they have stopped being people to be figures of pathologies that submerge them in oblivion, in pain and stigma.

Everyone in the rooms is united by the same goal.

“Remove the blindfold and look a little beyond our comforts”, comments one of the spectators.

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