The world today is never truly free from the shadows of the war. Conflicts in the Middle East remain deadlocked, with the confrontation between Israel and Iran intensifying regional instability. The war in Ukraine, which has dragged on for years, has displaced over 10 million people and left millions mired in food and energy crises. These are not merely cold statistics in the headlines, but the reality and the cries echoing in the ears of countless people. The scars of war have become a shared dilemma of human. From Geneva to Shanghai, Tiago Rodrigues poses an incisive question in his play As Far as Impossible: The gunfire from afar never cease, and how can we live in a world filled with “impossibilities”?
Directed by Tiago, artistic director of the Festival d’ Avignon, and produced by the Comédie de Genève, this production carries forward the tenet of Festival d’ Avignon, that is to be in the face of the reality. Eschewing too much theatrical spectacle and contrived sentimentality, it uses minimalist theatrical language and a authentic script to drive its anti-war message straight to the heart. It is not a hymn to heroism, but a collective meditation on how ordinary people confront suffering. By intertwining the stage with reality, it breaks down the cognitive barriers between us and the suffering of others, allowing audiences to find the courage to face the reality and their own life.
I. Tiago Rodrigues: Deconstructing the Myth of the Hero and Restoring Human Authenticity in the Interviews
To read into As Far as Impossible, one must know about its director, Tiago Rodrigues. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1977, Tiago grew up in a family that had sought exile in France for political reasons, that planted the seeds of a focus on reality and social reflection in his heart at an early age. In 2003, he co-founded with Magda Bizarro the theatre company Mundo Perfeito, and created nearly 30 productions that toured more than 20 countries. From 2015 to 2021, he served as artistic director of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II. In 2021, he was appointed artistic director of the Festival d’ Avignon, and became the first Portuguese national to lead the festival in its more than 70-year history. His creative philosophy aligns closely with Avignon’s spirit of “art intervening in reality”.
Different from the grand narratives of “heroes saving the world” found in traditional anti-war plays, Tiago breaks free from these constraints in the very beginning, turning his gaze toward the ordinary people on the fringes of war who are simply doing their best. This choice stems from his firsthand reporting experience on the front lines. To create this work set against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Tiago interviewed dozens of frontline humanitarian workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, traveling to field hospitals, conflict zones, and post-war ruins across Ukraine. In an exclusive interview, he admitted that he initially arrived with romanticized expectations, believing he would encounter fearless heroes, only to see witness the most unadorned struggle and perseverance. This insight became the creative core of the entire work: he refused to portray savior-like figures, instead presenting the ordinary humanitarian worker. Scared and exhausted, they understand clearly that their efforts cannot end the war or alter the world’s cruelty, yet still choose to fight for even one more minute of survival for others.
In Tiago’s point of view, the very existence of humanitarian efforts paints a tragic picture of humanity: mundane and powerless, yet refuse to give up on kindness. This “anti-heroic” narrative perspective elevates the film’s anti-war theme beyond hollow slogans, and transforms it from a heroic feat of a few into a universal human experience, with which every ordinary person can empathize. Moreover, his collaborative approach which breaks away from a director-centric model ensures the authenticity and the realistic significance in his work.
II. The Comédie de Genève: Using Restraint as a Guide to Safeguard the Ethical Boundaries of Portraying Suffering
An outstanding anti-war play cannot be separated from the nurturing influence of the theater. The profound expression of As Far as Impossible perfectly embodies the creative philosophy of the Comédie de Genève. As one of the most important public theaters of Switzerland, it upholds consistently the mission of “supporting contemporary creation and demonstrating social concern”, and collaborates frequently with leading European creators to incubate a wealth of works that combine artistic excellence with social relevance. In its portrayal of suffering, the theater has always adhered to clear ethical boundaries.
In its collaboration with Tiago, the Comédie de Genève reached a strong consensus with the director, to reject the exploitation of suffering and the use of sensationalism to garner attention, and instead to convey profound human compassion through the simplest artistic expression. The theater granted Tiago the full creative freedom, allowing “restraint” to become the underlying tone of the production—no blood-stained stage sets nor exaggerated sound effects, and even the actors’ performances were kept deliberately understated, using a documentary-style narrative to recreate the true stories of humanitarian workers.
This “de-spectacularized” presentation not only fails to diminish the suffering, but also prevents it from being transformed into a “spectacle” for public to look on with folded arms. It allows the audience to confront reality within a composed context, fostering genuine empathy rather than fleeting emotional release. Since its premiere in 2022, the production has toured across three continents—from the Théâtre dee l’Odéon in Paris to the Teatro Piccolo in Milan, and from the D. Maria II National Theatre in Lisbon to the National Theater Concert Hall in Taipei, demonstrating the universal value of this restrained form of expression. With the original production team now traveling to Shanghai, the idea of “connecting the world with art” serves as a bridge for dialogue between Chinese and European theatrical cultures, allowing Chinese audiences to personally experience the creative power of European theater in confronting reality.
III. The Aesthetics of Minimalist Stage Design: Shattering the Filter of Distance to Reveal the True Texture of Suffering
The most moving artistic value of As Far as Impossible lies in its ability to convey the heaviest anti-war themes through an extremely minimalist stage language. This minimalism is not a lack of artistic expression, but rather Tiago’s consistent creative approach—using the most unadorned stage presentation to shatter the “distance filter” between us and the suffering from afar, thereby revealing the true texture of war and suffering. This approach was also vividly demonstrated in The Cherry Orchard, also directed by Tiago, and starred Isabelle Huppert last year in Shanghai.
The stage design is stripped down to its bare essentials: four actors, a percussionist, and a single massive white cloth, to carry the entire narrative. This white cloth is the soul of the stage and the “medium of distance” that Tiago created. At times, it undulates like a row of tents on the Ukrainian battlefield, bearing the suffering and hope of people in conflict zones. At other times, it stands silent and imposing like a hill, symbolizing the heaviness and insurmountability of war. And at still other moments, it transforms into a curtain that both conceals and reveals, gradually unveiling the steadfastness and struggles of humanitarian workers. With every undulation and transformation, the white cloth silently narrates the cruelty of war, delivering a more powerful impact than any deliberate dramatization, allowing the audience to intuitively feel the way war tears apart lives.
The use of percussion lends a three-dimensional and vivid quality to the “cries from afar”. Gabriel Ferrandini eschews elaborate arrangements, instead using delicate taps and deep rumbling to evoke the oppression and unease of a war-torn backdrop. The sounds of explosions, gunfire, and heartbeats build in layers, at times even drowning out the actors’ words, as if the noise of war were infiltrating everyday life. Meanwhile, the four actors remain facing the audience, recounting firsthand accounts from field hospitals and post-war ruins in an unsigned and verbatim style—without exaggerated expressions or sentimental dialogue, only the weight of their words slowly settling within the theater.
This stage presentation which reveals that “restraint is strength”, effectively dismantles two extreme notions that we often hold about war: either romanticizing suffering and expressing cheap sympathy from a safe distance, or deliberately turning away out of fear, thereby severing ourselves from that suffering. It allows the audience to truly feel that the war is not a dramatic conflict in a movie, but the shattered daily lives of countless individuals, and the cries from afar are not abstract symbols, but the desperate screams of specific lives.
IV. The Core of Reflection: From “Cries from Afar” to “Action in the Present”, The Boundary Between Change and Inaction
The ultimate value of As Far as Impossible does not lie in providing a standard answer to the anti-war movement, but in raising a philosophical question about “distance and action”, to address the confusion and anxiety that ordinary people feel when faced with suffering far away. The humanitarian worker’s line in the play, “We are not heroes; we are just doing our best”, captures the central dialectic and the profound reflection that Tiago hopes to convey to every audience.
Humanitarian workers on the front lines of war are acutely aware that their efforts can neither alter the course of the conflict, nor break the cycle of violence, nor single-handedly save a nation mired in crisis, that is the reality of “immutability” they must confront. Yet they still choose to rush to the front lines to search for life amid the rubble, racing against time to provide medical care under fire, and preserving a glimmer of hope for others in the despair—this is the courage of change that they have actively chosen. In an interview, Tiago extended this dialectic to ordinary individuals: “Humanitarian workers are aware of their limitations, yet they still choose to act, because every effort may save a life. For us ordinary people at a greater distance, the principle remains the same.”
Separated by vast distances, we also face the choice between “change” and “no change”. We can neither rush to the front lines in the Middle East or Ukraine, nor directly end a war, nor alter the reality that suffering still occurs worldwide—this is the “no change” we must face. But we can shatter our illusions and indifference toward distant suffering, and refuse to treat it as mere idle talk unrelated to us. We can uphold kindness and justice in our daily lives, and refuse to become bystanders in a cruel world. We can convey the ideals of peace in our own ways, uniting more people in cherishing life—this is the “change” that each one of us can make.
This kind of change has never been about grand slogans, but rather about steadfastness hidden in the everyday life: cherishing the peace and stability of the present in times of tranquility, safeguarding the warmth around us in the midst of mundane routines, and maintaining our capacity for empathy when we witness suffering. As Tiago said, the steadfastness of ordinary people is never in vain. Every moment you live with earnestness, every time you stand by kindness, you are holding the most powerful resistance against war. And this is precisely the significance of theater, that does not allow us to escape reality, but rather enables us to encounter distant suffering within the theater. We bear the weight of our times together in silence, and then, armed with this courage to return to life.
It’s not difficult to imagine, that when the curtain falls and the audience leaves the Majestic Theatre, they will still be facing their peaceful daily lives, yet their hearts will have been quietly changed.
