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Original article: Llega a Teatro ICTUS «PA$$$TA(YO)BA$$$E!!!!», un viaje febril que explora la adicción como síntoma social, político y espiritual

Experience the Gripping Play ‘PA$$$TA(YO)BA$$$E!!!!’ at Teatro ICTUS, Delving into Addiction as a Social, Political, and Spiritual Affliction

‘PA$$$TA(YO)BA$$$E!!!!’ is a contemporary monologue that unfolds during the final moments of a base paste user’s life in a Santiago neighborhood. From the brink of life and death, a polyphony of voices, times, and realms fractures reality: an elderly woman lost in the vastness of the Bolivian highlands, an actor ensnared in the narcissistic void of Hollywood, a Roman soldier traversing a community devastated by drugs, and the emergence of an enigmatic divine presence.

With direction and dramaturgy by Nicolás Bascuñán and featuring acclaimed national actor Felipe Zepeda, ‘PA$$$TA(YO)BA$$$E!!!!’ marks the second production of Teatro del Amor, which has enjoyed sold-out runs in various theaters across Santiago.

«This work emerges from my personal experience with base paste during my youth. For several years, I consumed it with school friends and with users in certain neighborhoods. It was a drug I enjoyed, but when the effect faded and it was time to sleep, the nightmares were the most terrifying I have ever experienced,» comments the director regarding the play’s inception.

Thus, the production aims to immerse the audience in a stark nightmare: the abyss of base paste consumption and its devastating impact. However, beyond simply recounting the story of one particular drug, the play brutally highlights the workings of a society that manufactures, sells, and consumes everything around it with the same ruthless logic.

On stage, each character portrayed in the play embarks on a feverish journey, exploring addiction not only as an individual experience but also as a social, political, and spiritual symptom of our society.

Blending dark humor with themes of the popular and the sacred, the play invites various reflections on base paste consumption, where Latin American history, mass culture, popular religiosity, and essential questions about human existence converge.

Performance Details

Show Dates: July 31 to August 22 / Fridays and Saturdays
8:00 PM
Teatro ICTUS – Merced 349, Santiago
Duration: 80 minutes
Recommended Age: 14+
Tickets available at Ticketplus
Prices: $12,000 general, $6,000 for students and seniors
Active partnerships: Red Salas de Teatro and Comunidad Sidarte

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