Masterclass on playwriting with Tiago Rodrigues

Either mixing true stories and fiction, rewriting classics, or adapting novels, and weaving together the intimate and the political, the theater of Tiago Rodrigues is deeply rooted in the idea of writing for and with the actors, searching for a poetical transformation of our conscience and reality through theatrical tools. His goal is to bring us together, to question our world through the power of words, bodies, and the spectators’ imagination.

Actor, director, playwright, producer, and, since 2022, the Director of the Festival d’Avignon in France, Tiago Rodrigues (b. Portugal, 1977) has created and presented more than 30 performances in more than 20 countries over the past 12 years, receiving many awards and distinctions.

His work was first introduced to the Greek audience with “By Heart” in 2016 at the Onassis Stegi Upper Stage. In the 2023–24 season, he presented the provocatively titled play “Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists” at the Onassis Stegi Main Stage, pondering how far we can go before beginning to defend democracy, in an overall commentary on the rise of nationalism worldwide. The first collaboration of Tiago Rodrigues with the historical troupe Comédie-Française materialized this past July with the presentation of the play “Hecuba, not Hecuba” at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus, following its premiere at the Festival d’Avignon. Now he is back to Onassis Stegi and, for the first time, he directs, in collaboration with Argyro Chioti, the Greek actors Nikos Karathanos and Marisha Triantafyllidou to his debut theatrical work, his most autobiographical, which he began writing in 2006 and completed it in 2020, “The Lovers’ Chorus.”

The work of Tiago Rodrigues has been recognized for his ability to break borders between the theater and different realities, challenging our perception of social and historical phenomena. Throughout his career, Tiago Rodrigues has become a builder of bridges between cities and countries, at once host and advocate of a living theater.