IN
MIÑA Artedrama. Equipment: Sambou Diaby, Ander Lipus, Eihara Irazusta, Mikel Kaye.
WHERE: Arriaga Theatre in Bilbao.
NO: 25 October.

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Ibrahima balde and AMETS Arzallus counted in Basque in Miñán in 2019. Five years later he has come to the scene of the hand of Artedram, also in Euskera – some artists who had previously been trained in English. The official premiere of the play took place in front of the Teatro Bilbaíno, on Friday night.

Lipus begins to tell us, from the role of Arzallus, how he related to Balda. Although we read it, Diaby reminds us that it is the true story of people of flesh and bone. He's the storyteller and the protagonist, who embodies Balde. He uses with innocence the first person to tear that fourth wall, literally repeating the beginning of the novel. He narrates the times of his childhood: his father's work and his illness and death; when he was only 13 years old, he left the house behind and left for work. From time to time he speaks to us, and I have the feeling that I increasingly remember the novel I read some time ago. The zumaiarra has had a good job learning by heart many of the lines of the book (but many). From time to time they have invented small scenes, always true to the original. Meanwhile, Lipus, Irazusta and Kaye appear. They are the families, the friends, the street people, the elderly who make up Bale's world. And sometimes, when the situation allows, they've made a space for humor, we've been grateful to be able to laugh as well.

The months, the years have passed quickly. The mother has become ill and has returned home. The mother has recovered and Miñán has escaped. That's when the longest journey really starts: after the runway and the lack of clues from his brother. Fatigue, swollen feet, shipwreck, men's traffic, torture.

The lights have been turned on and the fiction has been interrupted for a moment. Once again, Diaby remembers that he is a person of flesh and bone and that he does not want to reopen those wounds. Life is not easy to say: Ibrahima and everyone else are doomed to feel that pain over and over again. To me, however, I have the doubt, because Miñán is, in short, a chronicle of all that. Balda tells us it with good intention and generosity, and we read it and, from now on, we see it.

After a long final applause, excited by Diaby, Lipus and his friends. They have presented us to the whole group, and we have each applause. Ibrahima and AMETS are also among those elected. We received them standing. Tears have fallen, here and there, in Ibrahima's face. It may not come to the issue, but all this has been in the same week that the Solidary Dinners of the Street of San Sebastian have been banned. Solidarity and humanity are not just words, and it is worth remembering that behind thousands of unknown stories in Miña, Donostia, there is a life of flesh and bone. Life is not easy to say.