The humanitarian empathy of Tiago Rodrigues
From time to time, we Catalans become obsessed with some foreign creator: de Richard Wagner a Henrik Ibsenpassing through Wajdi Mouawad, Javier Dault or Sergio Blanco. Now it is the turn of the Portuguese director and playwright Tiago Rodrigueschiefly responsible for the Avignon Festival from 2021. Although it has been well over a decade since he lavished himself on our billboards – ever since he presented Antonio and Cleopatra in Temporada Alta 2016, when he was still directing the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II in Lisbon—, lately his presence has intensified.
Last year, for example, El Grec programmed him Hecube, not Hecube and at the Free Theater he moved us with heart of lovers. This January, The distancewhich was briefly seen at the Lliure de Gràcia, became, without a doubt, one of the works of the season. Now, the actress Cristina Genebattranslator of Rodrigues into Catalan, makes her directorial debut with one of her texts: As far as possiblewhich Rodrigues himself had already presented, in French, at Temporada Alta 2024.
The work includes the testimony of various Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders workers. They are not literal transcriptions, but stories filtered “through the poetic sieve” of Rodrigues. According to Genebat, the author “doesn’t invent anything”: he starts from an idea or peculiarity of the witness and enhances it scenically. For the director, the piece speaks of “the humanity of humanitarians”.
In times of anxiety and restlessness, Genebat defends that “compassion must be claimed” and the focus should be placed on those who “look after and help others”. He also denounces the widespread loss of empathy resulting from the rise of social networks and the lack of personal connections and encounters. Fortunately, he remembers that “we all have, potentially, the ability to accompany others”.
The theatre, community art based on the bond between performers and spectators, is an ideal space to honor the empathy and care that, day after day, humanitarian workers deliver to those who need it most. In the play, however, not all are traumatic stories: there are also tender moments. At the end of the day, the work reflects on humanity’s salvific capacity, but, beyond the specific situations that are narrated, what is most relevant for Genebat is the intimate look at how these workers live their work.
In his directorial debut, Genebat has the complicity of La Perla 29 and a cast made up of Marcia Cisteró, Andrew Tarbet, Joan Amargós i Elena Tarrats. During the rehearsals, they spoke with Médecins Sans Frontières workers and were surprised to see to what extent their testimonies coincided with the words of the text originally premiered in Geneva in 2022. Rodrigues’ capacity for observation and scenic transmutation has not ceased to surprise us since an immense majority of Catalans discovered him with By Heart (Greek 2019) or Catarina and the beauty of killing fascists (Free Theatre, 2022).
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