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El Pacto del Olvido

Sergi Casero Nieto
Tue 8 Apr ’25 and Wed 9 Apr ’25
Why do I hardly know about my grandmother’s past?
Tue 8 Apr ’25
and
Wed 9 Apr ’25

The performance El Pacto del Olvido (Pact of Forgetting) probes the intergenerational transmission of political silence in Spain from the beginning of the Francoist dictatorship to the present day. In order to analyse the political violence in Spain’s recent history, El Pacto del Olvido unravels the habits of domestic suppression on which oblivion has been woven generation after generation. 

By casting a beam of intimate gazes over the country’s collective memory, El Pacto del Olvido shows the after-effects that this historical omission has produced in the successive descendants of families such as the maker Sergi Casero Nieto's own. 

With autofiction and historical analysis this memory exercise outlines the contours of collective silence. The audience is invited to wander in between the memory gaps through which repressed pain has been quietly seeping over decades. 

With the desire of intimately mitigating the trauma provoked by an official discourse that speaks of winners and losers as collectives without personal depth, Sergi explores the varying generational conducts with respect to institutionalised amnesia, as embodied in his close relatives. While the piece unfolds, through that silence emerge voices that speak about the consequences of forgetting, as well as about spaces through which to reconstruct our memory.

  • Duration: 75 mins. 

Credits

idea and direction Sergi Casero Nieto text by Sergi Casero Nieto with fragments and quotes by Jorge Luís Borges, Federico García Lorca with the memory test by Clara Valverde performance Sergi Casero Nieto dramaturgy assistance Mónica Molins Duran production assistance Elsa Casanova Sampé English translation Vicent Sanchís Puerto Italian translation Sofia Bresciani light design Sergi Casero and Miguel Angel Ruz Velasco costume design Sara Clemente production Centrale Fies / Live Works residencies Centro de Residencias Matadero Madrid & Live Works, Free School of Performance Centrale Fies. Nau Ivanow Barcelona

In the press

“In its apparent simplicity and construction of the story from a theatrical point of view, Sergi Casero Nieto’s show El Pacto del Olvido is able to represent a series of questions regarding the “difficult memories” of states such as Spain and Italy with respect to their Francoist or fascist past." Citta 100 Scale

"His El Pacto del Olvido is an important show, one of those that mark a theatrical season" SpettacoliNews

"The idea of writing goes beyond the simple narration of facts, or the analysis of a historical period, the thesis that Casero brings to the stage is almost psychoanalytic, and in this sense it profoundly concerns each of us" ArtesNews

About the maker

Sergi Casero Nieto is a Spanish theater-maker, performer and designer based in Amsterdam. His productions aim to bring back lost or displaced narratives into our physical present, challenging official accounts that shape our current perceptions. 

Sergi's approach involves building counter-stories to illustrate the subtle, yet significant, violent impacts hegemonic narratives have on our daily lives. In his research, he delves into oral history and collective memory, using interviews to gather different perspectives on past accounts. Additionally, he integrates personal experiences with elements of fiction and literature, drawing on various sources to challenge preconceptions and highlight the intricacy of inherited accounts.

His performances have been presented in multiple international institutions and festivals such as. He was also selected for international residencies such as Centro de Residencias Trimestrales Matadero (Madrid, 2023) and Live Works-Free School of Performance in Centrale Fies, (Dro, IT. 2021).