Zinc

Dead Centre’s adaptation of David Van Reybrouck’s masterful 'Zinc' explores the way the human body becomes a map — a contested site where the struggles of politics and history determine who we are. What does history do to a human life?

This is the story of something that came into existence by accident, was found to be malleable and easily exploited, was extracted from its place of origin and sent to far-off places. Something that was used in a variety of ways, for a variety of causes. That something was a man called Joseph Rixen. The story of Zinc begins …

The story begins in 2025 in a theatre in Liège, with an audience sitting in a room watching a play. The audience is united by something. Inside the bodies of every single person is a large repository of a trace metal: zinc, used in the body to help the immune system fight off invading viruses. If called upon, it is ready to fight.