Sergi Gray with Dorian López

In 1988, I met Sergi López Ayats. He was recommended to me by the organizers of the presentation in Vilanova i la Geltrú of my first book of short stories, Línia , published by Columna the year before. They told us that a young actor could perform one of the stories from the book to enrich the event, and the editor, Miquel Alzueta, agreed. Sergi, who was 23 at the time and very thin, chose a story with a Woody Allen-esque title ("Zelig"), in which the protagonist changes identity every year, transformed it into a monologue, and masterfully performed it while changing wardrobes.

I began to follow his career with interest. First in the theater, which he had just launched with a hilarious Shakespearean parody that would triumph in the university entrance exams today: BRAMS or Kumèdia dels Herrors , paired with Toni Albà. And very soon also in the cinema, which began in the early nineties with the films of French director Manuel Poirier, the fifth of which, Western (1997), established him in France, to the point that in 2001 he was the first non-Frenchman to receive the César for Best Actor, for Harry, a Friend Who Loves You .

When Non Solum premiered in 2005 (a Latin phrase for "Non nobis solum," not just for us), I fell backward in my seat. That dialogued monologue was brutal. A man enters his lover's apartment and finds a naked plumber. Shortly after, a third man, a land registry official, enters, and the three discover they are identical, mon semblable, mon frère . Suddenly, the doorbell starts ringing, and the stage is invaded by a multitude of Sergilópez equivalents who wander and mutate with a simple, sometimes minimal, gesture. Dozens and dozens of characters move across the open stage, splitting, tripling, and multiplying in an unforgettable exploration of otherness.

López's dialogued monologue 'Non solum' is an unforgettable exploration of otherness.

The most special moment of Non Solum is when López performs Pau Riba's L'home estàtic , a colossal oxymoron amid such a display of kinetic energy. On June 14, 2009, the generosity of both artists provided a memorable culmination to the charity concert Mou-te pels quiets , held at the Barcelona Auditorium to raise awareness of children with cerebral palsy like my son Llullu. Sergi López read a fragment from the book Quiet that leads into the song L'home estàtic , began to sing it, and Pau Riba appeared on stage to join him in a memorable a cappella duet.

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Every so often, López revives Non Solum , probably because it represents his artistic essence. The performer ages, but his work doesn't, in a theatrical antithesis to Oscar Wilde's famous novel, the Portrait of Dorian Gray. These days, he's celebrating the play's 20th anniversary at the Poliorama. Don't miss it.