Tiago Rodrigues returns to Onassis Stegi with two performances, a masterclass, and a talk

Onassis Stegi continues its tribute to the work of Portuguese director, playwright, and Artistic Director of the Avignon Festival, Tiago Rodrigues, while also continuing its exploration of one of the central themes of this year’s programme: family bonds.

Following The Way She Dies (The Dance of Lovers), which Rodrigues directed with a Greek cast featuring Nikos Karathanos and Marissa Triantafyllidou for two consecutive years on the Small Stage, Stegi presents two more of his works this May. Together, the three pieces form an informal trilogy on family: from the couple wondering whether time is enough in The Dance of Lovers, to the fragile balance between a daughter and a father living on different planets in La Distance, and finally to the tender gesture of a grandson towards his grandmother in By Heart.

Tiago Rodrigues opens the doors to his theatrical “kitchen” to share how his ideas become performances, through a masterclass titled “The Kitchen” on May 9, as well as a public discussion on his work on May 11.

La Distance (May 7–10, 2026)

Rodrigues’ most recent work, which premiered at the Avignon Festival last July in co-production with Stegi, tells the story of a daughter and a father living on two different planets literally.

The Portuguese creator delivers a love letter to family, with two French actors weaving a moving story of a bond that stretches across planets and environmental collapse. Two lives orbiting on a rotating stage, far apart, yet closer than ever.

Set in the year 2077, humanity struggles to survive. Life on Earth becomes increasingly precarious, while part of the population has migrated to Mars, attempting to build new forms of coexistence. Rodrigues tells the story of a father who chooses to remain on Earth, reluctant to abandon what is being lost, and a daughter who embraces the future on the Red Planet.

Separated by 225 million kilometres, their connection persists. As Rodrigues notes:
“By speaking about distance, we also discover proximity… The dissonance between a collective goal and the reality of political and economic power is one of the paradoxes of our time. How will we explain this to future generations? Perhaps it is a symptom of who we are as a species: a deep contradiction between our immense creative capacity and our tendency toward destruction. La Distance reflects on the titanic task that awaits us over the next fifty years. But I feel like someone who, after reading an encyclopedia, ends up writing a sonnet. It is an enlargement through miniature.”

A deeply human performance, La Distance becomes an elegy on memory, parenthood, emancipation, and existential conflict-two worlds that ultimately become one.

Credits

Text & Direction: Tiago Rodrigues
With: Alison Dechamps and Adama Diop
Translation: Thomas Resendes
English surtitles translation: Daniel Hahn

Set Design: Fernando Ribeiro
Costumes: José António Tenente
Lighting: Rui Monteiro
Music & Sound: Pedro Costa
Artistic Collaboration: Sophie Bricaire
Assistant Director: André Pato
Assistant Director (trainee): Thomas Medioni

Production: Festival d’Avignon

Co-production: Teatro stabile di Napoli – Teatro Nazionale (Naples); Onassis Stegi (Athens); La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand scène nationale; Divadlo International Theatre Festival (Plzeň, Czech Republic); Le Volcan, Scène nationale du Havre; Teatre Lliure; Centro Dramático Nacional; Malakoff scène nationale – Théâtre 71; Culturgest; De Singel; Équinoxe – Scène nationale de Châteauroux; Points communs – Nouvelle scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise / Val d’Oise; Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa; Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne; NTCH Taiwan – National Theater and Concert Hall; Les Célestins, Théâtre de Lyon; Théâtre du Bois de l’Aune; Théâtre de Grasse – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national – Art & Création; Scènes et Cinés, Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national – Art en territoire; Le Bateau Feu – Scène nationale de Dunkerque; Plovdiv Drama Theatre; Malta Festival Poznań; Espace 1789

With the support of the integration programme of École du TNB (Théâtre national de Bretagne)
Sets: Workshops of the Festival d’Avignon
Artistic residency: La FabricA

The performance includes the song “Sonhos” by Caetano Veloso.

The production premiered on July 7, 2025, at L’Autre Scène du Grand Avignon (Vedène), as part of the 79th Avignon Festival

By Heart (May 11–12, 2026)

In a world where we mostly remember PIN codes and passwords, what is the value of memorising a Shakespearean sonnet? A deeply moving monologue by Portuguese creator Tiago Rodrigues, in which ten volunteer audience members join him on stage.

“When ten people memorise a poem, there is nothing the KGB, the CIA or the Gestapo can do anymore. The poem will survive,” wrote George Steiner. Tiago Rodrigues brings this idea to life through the disarming simplicity of By Heart, the final piece in this season’s tribute by Onassis Stegi to the Portuguese artist.

The stage is empty. There are only ten chairs and crates filled with books. They await the ten volunteers whom Rodrigues invites at the beginning of the performance. Ten years after its first presentation at Stegi, By Heart returns, with the writer-director himself as performer-narrator, unfolding a chronicle of personal and collective stories while simultaneously teaching-in Greek-a sonnet by William Shakespeare.

As Rodrigues explains:
“The performance is the representation of the search for that one book my grandmother would carry in her memory when her eyes would fail her. In the piece, I also refer to the story of Nadezhda, the wife of Osip Mandelstam. After the arrest of the Russian poet and the banning of his books, she found a way to resist: in her kitchen, she would teach one of his poems to ten people at a time, so that his work could continue to be ‘published’ in human memory. This is exactly what I try to do in this performance. I teach a sonnet by Shakespeare to ten members of the audience at each show. One of the sonnets I chose for my grandmother.”

By Heart was first presented at Onassis Stegi in December 2016, as part of a tribute marking 400 years since Shakespeare’s death.

The adventure of the 20th century, the lives and words of major writers such as Boris Pasternak, Ray Bradbury, George Steiner, and Joseph Brodsky intertwine with personal narratives above all, that of Rodrigues’ grandmother as she was losing her sight.

A heartfelt and, at the same time, “by heart” declaration in defense of the mind and the soul the safest refuge for freedom of thought, for forbidden texts, for the words and stories we want to shape our world. A guarantee of culture, even in the most difficult times.

Credits

Text, Direction & Performance: Tiago Rodrigues
English Translation: Tiago Rodrigues, edited by Joana Frazão
Featuring excerpts and quotations from works by William Shakespeare, Ray Bradbury, George Steiner, and Joseph Brodsky

Set Design, Costumes & Props: Magda Bizarro
General Management: André Pato
Executive Production: Festival d’Avignon

Based on an original creation by the company Mundo Perfeito
Co-production: O Espaço do Tempo, Maria Matos Teatro Municipal

With the support of Camões Centre culturel portugais à Paris for the 77th edition of the Festival d’Avignon
Creation support: Governo de Portugal—DGArtes

Original production executive producers: Magda Bizarro, Rita Mendes

Masterclass & Talk

As part of the tribute, Tiago Rodrigues meets the Greek audience through a masterclass and a public discussion dedicated to the art of theatrical writing and directing.

Covering the entire creative process, from the first spark of an idea to the final performance of a tour, Rodrigues shares stories and practical examples that illuminate his artistic method. Writing for and with actors, blending fiction with reality, and reworking classical texts, his work seeks to reshape our perception of reality through the tools of theatre.

His goal remains simple yet profound: to bring us closer together, prompting reflection on the world through words, bodies, and collective imagination.

About Tiago Rodrigues

Tiago Rodrigues began his career as an actor, driven by a desire to collaborate and create new work. His encounter with the Belgian company tg STAN in 1997 shaped his commitment to non-hierarchical creative processes.

In 2003, he co-founded the company Mundo Perfeito with Magda Bizarro, producing numerous works without a fixed base and collaborating internationally. He served as director of Teatro Nacional D. Maria II in Lisbon (2015–2021) and has become a key figure in contemporary theatre, bridging cities and cultures.

Since 2022, he has been Artistic Director of the Avignon Festival, where his work continues to resonate on an international scale.