Who or what or where are ‘The People’? Historian Edmund Morgan argues in Inventing the People: ‘The people are never visible as such. Before we ascribe sovereignty to the people, we have to imagine that there is such a thing, something we personify as though it were a single body, capable of thinking, of acting, of making decisions and carrying them out.’
So, let us imagine. Let us personify. Let us make this single body visible. One single body. On stage, Marta Navaridas silently performs a detailed bathroom routine. No objects. No set. From the off, we hear a series of thoughts, a stream of consciousness. As water shoots out of the imaginary showerhead, runs over her body and down the imaginary drain, we become witnesses to an intimate protocol of aspirations, fears and frustrations of someone who is not always smart, not always interesting, not always informed, not always prepared, not always friendly, and not always of an opinion. Someone who is not always honest and competent and sincere and hard-working. Someone who is a little bit spoilt and narcissistic. Someone who would like to be a better person. Someone like you. Someone like us. Someone like ‘The People’. Maybe.