Concept
Oscar Castro Ramírez, (13 May 1947 – 25 April 2021), was a Chilean playwright, actor and director of the Aleph Theater. Óscar Castro founded the Aleph Theatre in Santiago in 1968 with fellow students. Self-taught and politically active, the Aleph wrote and staged a series of musical plays and produced satirical programmes for Chilean television. On tour in France at the time of the coup d’état in September 1973, the company presented La Trinchera del Supertricio (an allegory of the military coup ) in October 1974. As a result, several actors of the troupe were arrested, interrogated and tortured: two disappeared under interrogation and two others (Óscar Castro and his sister Marieta) were interned in concentration camps for two years. During his internment, Óscar created a new play each week for the «Viernes culturales» for his fellow inmates. On his release in 1976, Óscar was exiled and sought asylum in France. Since 1976, Óscar lived in Paris where he continued to create plays and write novels. The Aleph Theatre company, which he directed, is based in the Parisian suburb of Ivry sur Seine, where they have their own theatre space. Over the years, the Aleph Theatre company has become a myth and a reference for Latin-American theatre and Erase una vez un rey Once upon a time there was a king, written in 1971, has become today one of the most frequently performed plays throughout Central and Latin America. He died from COVID-19 on 25 April 2021 at the age of 73 in Paris, France. Óscar Castro has written, directed and performed in more than 30 Aleph creations, touring in France, Europe, Russia and North, Central and Latin America. 1982 Nominated member of the French PEN Club. 1983 Received the prize of the Best Script and Best Stage Direction for "La Nuit Suspendue" at Rencontres Charles Dullin, Villejuif (France). 1988 “On s’est tant aimé à Santiago”: documentary directed by Frédéric Laffont et Pierre Barouh about Óscar Castro’s life and career, produced for French television (Résistances, Antenne 2).
