Play with fire

Reuters ● Members of the Xarxa theatre company from Spain perform Fahrenheit — Ara Pacis at the Santiago a Mil International Theatre Festival in Santiago, Chile. Ara Pacis, the shortened form of Altar of Augustan Peace, was an altar in Rome dedicated to Pax, the Roman goddess of peace. The altar was built by ancient Romans to beg the gods for peace. Built on the floodplain of the Tiber River, it was eventually covered by silt. In the show, Xarxa’s “sculptors of fire” depict a rural, festive and joyful society that perishes against unbridled aggression. The performance is inspired by Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 about book burning in a future US.