Sub Titles Over

First of October 2017. Three am. A knock on the door. Everyone is holding their breath inside their sleeping bag, crammed in this boiling hot polling station.

Just hours away from the referendum for Catalan independence, deemed illegal by the Spanish government, two young anti-fascist activists hold hands in the dark, waiting for the Spanish police to arrive at any minute…

‘ – ¡Vamos a quemar esto con todos vosotros dentro!’

Did you hear that? Just a friendly cop nudging them to wake up…

This award-winning one-woman-show explores how translation and subtitles can be used to manipulate monolingual communities through the media, especially when creating the hegemonic narrative surrounding foreign affairs in non-English-speaking countries.

Performed fully in Catalan, with English captions, the show follows two young anti-fascist activists during the referendum for Catalan independence on the 1st of October 2017, which was deemed as illegal by the Spanish government, who deployed its military corps to stop the voting from happening all throughout Catalonia.

About the company:

Mad Who? is an emerging multicultural theatre company that creates multilingual captioned work focusing on human rights issues explored through a feminist lens. The company, created by Catalan multidisciplinary artist Marina Cusí in 2022 with the support of the University of Essex’s Innovation Centre and start-ups team, premiered its first show, ‘The ‘’S’’ Is Silent’ in April 2023 at The Pleasance Theatre in London, and won the FesTeLoFF 2022 Audience Award for said production at FesTeLõn Festival’s 10th edition. Mad, Who? was an OFFIES Awards 2024 finalist on their Best Online Production Category for the livestream of ‘The ‘’S’’ Is Silent’ at The Space Theatre, and an OffFest Award finalist at the OFFIES 2025. ‘Sub Titles Over’ was awarded the ‘GJD Reviews Award’ at the Colchester Fringe 2024.

Advance Prices: 

• Students: £6
• Concessions (including staff and alumni): £10
• Public: £15