
The Playz series
This series was the first bilingual series in Catalan and Spanish that Playz, the young digital channel of RTVE, shot in Barcelona. Drama stars Elisabet Casanovas, Artur Busquets and Júlia Bonjoch and is produced in collaboration with El Terrat.
Created by Dani Amor and directed by Ginesta Guindal, Drama explains the history of Africa (Elisabet Casanovas). She is a twenty-something-year-old girl who lives in a shared apartment, has a precarious job, and sees how her life changes when she discovers that she is pregnant and doesn't know from whom. In this article, we review chapter by chapter the adventures of Africa, Scarlett, and Jordi, the three protagonists of Drama. The locator for the series was Natxo Gefaell.
Chapter 1 Yuri
In the first chapter, we meet Africa (Elisabet Casanovas) in the apartment that she shares with her two flatmates, Scarlett (Júlia Bonjoch) and Jordi (Artur Busquets). Jordi proposes to Africa to go on a trip together to Vietnam. They say to meet the same night to talk about it. She has to go to work. We see how she cycles in the Paseo Picasso in front of her arched doorway. Africa teaches private lessons to a little girl. When she is biking, she does not feel fine and has to stop and vomit. There she sees some posters or graffiti of feet.
Then, we make a flashback to an art exhibition attended by Africa and Scarlett. The works of art are paintings or sculptures of feet. The place of the expo is Pere IV Street, 483. The artist is a boy named Yuri (Aimar Vega). Africa meets him there and gets involved with him.
Returning to the present, Africa vomits at the house of her student too. After that, the girl's father takes her to a health center. That is supposed to be in Barcelona but is the Terrassa Hospital. There, she discovers that she is pregnant. But she does not know who is the father, because she broke up with her boyfriend and was with different people. She then decides to tell the five guys she was with that she is pregnant.
The first is Yuri. So, she goes to his studio in Poble Nou. It is the same place as the exhibition on Pere IV Street. And it will also serve as a location for the studio of a photographer that appears later in chapter 4.
The episode ends with Jordi eating fried fish at Bar La Plata (Mercè street, 28). He had arranged to meet Africa there, but she has not shown up.
Chapter 2 Quim
In this episode, they remember the birthday party of one of Scarlett's college colleagues that they celebrated in the apartment of the three protagonists. Most of the action takes place in the flat they share, which is on Méndez Nuñez street. There, Africa meets Quim, a musician. At the end of the chapter, she sees him play at a place called Soda Bus. This location is an event space called Doble36 (Paraguay street, 36). Jordi meets a girl at the party, her name is Núria.
Chapter 3 Senyor X
The episode begins by recalling a party night in which the three protagonists went out. It was just after Africa and her boyfriend, Sergi (Àlex Maruny), broke up. A night of partying to forget the grief. It starts at Bar La Plata again.
Shortly after, we do another flashback to two months after breaking up with Sergi, when he shows up at the apartment because he wants to pick up some things and talk to Africa. Jordi and Sergi speak in the doorway of the Méndez Nuñez street apartment. Later, on the same street, Jordi meets Núria (Carla Linares), a girl he met at Scarlett's colleague's birthday party and, they talk about meeting another day. After that, Africa shouts at Jordi from the balcony of the apartment.
We return to the party night. Africa, Scarlett, and Jordi go to the Soda Bus nightclub. There is also a view of Barcelona at night with the Vela hotel in the background. At the end of the chapter, Nuria and Jordi eat fried fish at Bar La Plata.
Chapter 4 Èric
The episode begins on the Barceloneta's Passeig Marítim where a young guy takes a photo of Scarlett while she is walking. She asks him to erase it. His name is Èric (David Menéndez). He will become her boyfriend. Later, Scarlett takes Èric to a meal in the apartment to introduce him to her flatmates.
In the same chapter, Africa meets a boy while he is pissing behind some motorcycles at night. They are on Mercè street with La Plata, right next to Bar La Plata.
Chapter 5 Gorka
Africa goes to Gorka's house at night, he is the father of the girl she teaches. Her apartment is on Pallars street. She goes out on her bicycle along Sant Pere Més Alt Street, near the apartment where the protagonists live.
In this episode, Africa attends the funeral of a relative. The funeral home is a civic center in El Prat de Llobregat named Cèntric Espai Cultural.
Chapter 6 Bárbara
This is the last chapter of the series. Scarlett and Africa are walking along Mercè street while talking. We can see the arches in the background that connect the Convent of La Mercè with the building next door. There they meet Barbara (Laura Weissmahr), a girl she met at the disco party.
Later, Africa takes a taxi at Trafalgar Street with Méndez Núñez Street to go to Hospital del Mar. There, we see the Barceloneta seafront and the Somorrostro beach. We can see an image of the seafront with the Mapfre tower, the Hotel Arts, and Frank Gehry's Olympic Fish in the background. Africa leaves the hospital and stops to look at the sea. She sits on a bench just outside the hospital entrance and eats a sandwich. Then Scarlett arrives to talk to her. The chapter ends when they both return to their apartment.