Only the Lonely: Isolation in the hyperconnected age

Loneliness has existed for as long as there has been life.

But recent societal shifts have threatened to make isolation our default state.
We now spend more time alone than ever before, and the impacts on our mental and physical health are clear.

Existential threats that require communal solutions – the climate crisis, the rise of the far-right – are festering as we choose to live solitary lives in front of screens, which have sold us the illusion of community at the expense of real connection with our fellow citizens.
As we sit alone inside, there is less pressure for our governments to address societal issues, or invest in our communities and public services.

Is theatre, as a communal art form, best placed to speak to our age of isolation?
How?

Is there a road out of our current “loneliness epidemic”?
And if there is, will we choose to take it?

“Most human beings are inescapably alone,
and therein lies their tragedy”. Richard Yates

Alistair McDowall 

The guest playwrights of this edition are Mateo Altez Rius (Uruguay), Caroline Bélisle (Canada), Marcos Caramés-Blanco (France), Luca Cardetta (Italy), Pau Coya (Catalonia/Balearic Islands), Kate Douglas (USA), Astrid Berg Hauge (Norway), Ella Kähärä (Finland), Paula Kläy (Switzerland, Germany), Naomi Obeng (Great Britain), Saúl Olarte (Spain), Roos Lisette Parmas (Estonia) and Nikolina Rafaj (Croatia). All of them have been recommended by international theatres and centres. They will send in advance a short play on the subject. These plays will be translated into Catalan and presented in the form of a staged reading. The readings will be open to the general public.

The participants in this seminar are authors recommended by collaborating institutions. 

Within the GREC 2026 Festival de Barcelona