Ghero

It’s the year 3000. The last Euskaldun, speaker of the Basque language, is dying in hospital – and an entire language that has been spoken for thousands of years is dying with him. It is time to say goodbye. A young doctor, standing by the patient’s side till the final hour, will be a witness to this farewell.

Nine dramatic poems orbiting around the planet of the Basque language. Ghero is a story made of lots of amazing, moving tales, going back and forth between the past and the future. The miraculous survival of an ancient, small language, filling us with awe and admiration. A co-production by Tartean Teatroa and Euskaltzaindia, on the occasion of the 100^th anniversary of the Academy of the Basque Language.

Ghero is a show about the Basque language – about the amazing miracle of its survival.

In Euskera, the show pays tribute to all languages, to language diversity, to the intangible cultural heritage of humanity – a heritage that has been shrinking over the years. Just like thousands of plant and animal species, small languages are disappearing. It is inexorable. Only the strongest (fittest) survive. With this unstoppable trend, we could all end up speaking just one language in the future. And some would say that is positive. The story of Ghero is set against this background.

A dozen different languages are spoken in the show. There is Euskera, of course, but there is also English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Catalan or Galician. And there are extinct languages too: Latin, Mi’kmaq (spoken by the indigenous people to Terra Nova, Canada), Iberian, Proto-Euskera… And there is even a fictional language: Globalese, the language spoken by every human being in the year 3000.

No subtitles are used. They are not necessary. The show is meant to be understood by the audience, even if they are not speakers of the languages on stage.

100^th ANNIVERSARY OF EUSKALTZAINDIA (1918-2018)

PREMIERE AT THE ARRIAGA THEATRE – THEATRE IN BASQUE