In FRATERNITÉ, Conte fantastique, Caroline Guiela Nguyen – born 1981 – a writer and director for theatre and cinema and associate artist for the Piccolo, imagines humanity struck by a sudden catastrophe; during an eclipse, half of the world’s population disappears in a matter of minutes. Those left behind have no idea where their loved ones have gone; all they are left with is immense and inconsolable suffering. The survivors, who speak different languages and come from different backgrounds, are cared for in “Care and Consolation Centres”, places of memory set up in schools and equipped with sophisticated technology. These centres monitor the planet’s tremors, seeking to predict the next eclipse, as well as the heartbeats of the survivors. They help them to record messages to send into space in a desperate attempt to trace those who have disappeared. For this story, Caroline Guiela Nguyen has chosen a company of professional and amateur actors; the fictional storyline serves as a cue for an examination of lives held in limbo when people have no idea of what has happened to their loved ones, a situation common to migrants, refugees and the victims of the endless wars that rage across the planet. “I love everything about the word “fraternity” – says the artist. – I like the fact that it is a process, a project that examines the question of alterity, but also of immediateness; recognising others as family, without hesitation, in the sense of members of a single human consortium”. We often tend to confuse this with the concept of “solidarity”, which is undoubtedly a wonderful and extremely powerful idea, but one that exists in the here and now, in the present. Instead, it is possible to nurture a sense of fraternity that is projected into the future without having experienced it in the past; I love this sensation, this act that remains eternally suspended”.