La Distance

LA DISTANCE It is the year 2077. While humanity struggles to survive, plagued by economic precariousness and the consequences of climate change, part of the population lives in exile on Mars. Back on Earth, a father strives to maintain a relationship with his daughter who has gone to the Red Planet. La Distance is a miniature lost in the vastness of the cosmos. Through this dystopian yet not-improbable scenario, Tiago Rodrigues explores the consequences of our choices as much as the possibility of communication between generations. The artist sets two worlds face to face and imagines their dialogue in orbit as a series of very, very, very long-distance calls. He is joined for the occasion by actors Adama Diop and Alison Dechamps in an interplanetary setup in rotation, like two celestial bodies stuck in their respective orbits, alternatively coming closer and drifting apart.

 Tiago Rodrigues has chosen the form of a parable without a resolution, a fairy tale without a happy ending, where science fiction intimacy calls for correction and raises questions that affect the future of the human species (we are in 2077, that is, in the not-so-distant future…). The always precise Adama Diop excels in more or less suppressed emotions. (…) Alison Dechamps’ performance is also impressive, balancing between determination and vulnerability. A moving production that transforms generational conflicts into a challenge to preserve our common good.
Agnès Santi, La Terasse

The author demonstrates a rare humanity in order to question a world that explores the limits of this humanity. Thanks to talented actors, the charismatic Adama Diop and the excellent Alison Dechamps, the production presents touching and rarely timeless fragments in which, in the end, it is not so much about the universe as about family relationships, sadness and memories.
Mathis Grosos, L’Œil d’Olivier

In a dystopia that could be described as realistic, the director of the Avignon Festival brings a dialogue between a father who lives on Earth in 2077 and his daughter who has flown to Mars to forget the memory of Earthlings. While she builds a new world, he remains on a partially destroyed Earth, but he does not lose hope of being reunited with her and sends dozens of messages into space. Adama Diop and Alison Dechamps give great performances in this moving production, which has received great audience response.
Hélène Kuttner, Artcena

TIAGO RODRIGUES (1977) In 1997, while still a student, playwright and director Tiago Rodrigues crossed paths with the Belgian company tgSTAN, which confirmed his commitment to the collective spirit of theatre. In 2003, he co-founded the Mundo Perfeito company in Lisbon with Magda Bizarro and has since created almost thirty productions in more than twenty countries. These include Anthony and Cleopatra based on Shakespeare, Bovary based on Gustave Flaubert’s novel, The Way She Dies based on Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina with tgSTAN, and As Far as Impossible, a play he wrote based on interviews with thirty members of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. After leading the Dona Maria II National Theatre in Lisbon from 2015 to 2021, he took over as director of the Festival d’Avignon in 2023. There, he notably created Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard at the Palace of the Popes’ Cour d’Honneur in 2021. In 2024, his production Hecuba, not Hecuba, performed by Comédie-Française, premiered there and was also presented at last year’s Divadlo festival in Pilsen. His original production No Yogurt for the Dead premiered at NTGent in January 2025. His theatrical work, written in Portuguese and published in French by Les Solitaires Intempestifs, has been translated into nine languages (French, Spanish, Dutch, Estonian, Italian, Romanian, German, Arabic, and Korean).

FESTIVAL D’AVIGNON Founded in 1947 by director Jean Vilar, it has since become one of the most important international events of contemporary performing arts. The festival takes place on exceptional heritage-listed grounds, which include the Palace of the Popes, and hosts around forty productions, readings, exhibitions, films and numerous debates each year. Throughout the year, the festival offers artist residencies, public-facing initiatives and tours to ensure that its performances are seen around the world even outside the main event in July.