Chronicles that hit hard

Heimpossible It is the word Tiago Rodrigues uses to designate the indefinable but real geographical space into which humanitarian workers venture. A space opposed to possible...which is where they come from and where they return at the end of each mission, and is the space where we inhabitants of the First World live.

The Portuguese director wondered who these people were who dedicate themselves to international solidarity. He wondered why they did it, how they did it, and how it affected their lives. He found the answer in a series of interviews with these professionals, surprised that someone would want to create a play based on their experiences and stories. And this—and nothing more than this—is what this performance ofTo the extent that it is impossiblewhere the actress and translator Cristina Genebat graduates in theater directing.

A show that Rodrigues himself directed with the Comédie de Genève and that we saw at the Temporada Alta festival in 2024A committed documentary theatre proposal that at the time struck us as too cold. "The stories are harrowing in their content, but less so in their delivery, which is done with the cold detachment that prevails in the latest wave of European theatre, shying away from emotions or distilling them," I wrote. Cristina Genebat's proposal envelops the performance with greater warmth and imbues it with a poetic breath. Although dramaturgically it functions the same way—that is, as a chain of lived experiences over almost two hours, through the voices of two actresses and two actors (Joan Amargós, Marcia Cisteró, Andrew Tarbet, and Elena Tarrats)—the director emphasizes a dreamlike soundscape of percussion, a drum kit that dominated in Rodrigues's case, and, naturally, the narration of the performers who bring us closer to the horror and solidarity without sensationalism, but with genuine feeling. A collection of anecdotes that makes it clear that this work –because it is a job, as one of the aid workers rightly says– has an addictive component and shapes their relationships with the world possible

Genebat's debut is a good one, thanks to the exquisite direction of the performers, though not so much for the stage design with its screens and entirely superfluous multilingualism. Overall, an interesting, journalistic-tinged production that hits hard, but ultimately fails to move the audience.