Animula, vagula, blandula/ Hospes comesque corporeal/ Quae nunc abibis in loca/ Pallid, rigid, nudula, Neco, ut solas, dabis yocos… Thus begins the funeral poem written by the Emperor Hadrian, which inspired Marguerite Yourcenar for her Memoirs, as a hypothetical farewell letter he writes to his young successor, Marc Aureli. A piece that was, at the time, essential and delightful reading. Years later, none other than Maurizio Scaparro brought them to the stage in an adaptation by Jean Launay, starring Giorgio Albertazzi, which we saw at Madrid's Teatro Albéniz. The director himself revived it in Spanish, starring José Sancho, with whom he toured much of the Iberian Peninsula.