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In the last week of January, a large crowd gathered at a former torture centre in the Chile's capital Santiago. The detention centre of the former dictator, Augusto Pinochet, had turned into a theatre. A group of former political prisoners in Chile performed four plays written in torture camps and in exile between 1973 and 1980.

"I think awareness of life becomes intense when you face death," said Chilean playwright scar Castro, who directed the plays.

Castro wrote Political Prisoner Casimiro Peafleta as a monologue "so as not to go insane when he was all alone in his cell". Once Upon a Time There Was a King is about three vagabonds who invent a game in which they take turns to be king, one of whom turns a tyrant. The third play, The Crow's Flight written in exile in France, portrays Castro's life in the theatre world, while The Exile Mateluna, also written in exile, has among its cast relatives of victims of the dictatorship.