By Heart
Tiago Rodrigues
A moving monologue by the Portuguese playwright and stage director Tiago Rodrigues, artistic director of the Avignon Festival since 2022, that celebrates the power of poetry, memory, and freedom. In a world where we mostly memorize PINs and passwords, is there any value in learning a Shakespeare sonnet by heart?
Tiago Rodrigues, the Portuguese playwright, stage director, and artistic director of the Avignon Festival since 2022, teaches a sonnet by William Shakespeare to 10 volunteer audience members on stage, simultaneously creating a narrative that connects the true story of his grandmother with texts and stories by great writers, such as Nobel Prize winner Boris Pasternak, Ray Bradbury, George Steiner, and Joseph Brodsky. Gradually, the mystery surrounding the choice of this particular sonnet to memorize is solved. “The most important tribute any human being can pay to a poem or a piece of prose he or she really loves is to learn it by heart. Not by brain; by heart.”
"By Heart" celebrates the power of poetry, memory, and freedom, showing us how literary works can find a safe haven in our minds and hearts during times of prohibition.
Publisher: Onassis Foundation
Text: Tiago Rodrigues
Translation: Iannis Papadakis
Translation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30: Lenia Safiropoulou
We would like to thank Agra Publications for their kind permission to use excerpts from “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, translated in Greek by Vassilis Douvitsas
Publication Editor: Christina Kosmoglou
Designer: Theodoros Koveos
Copy Editing & Additional Translations (director’s note and bio): Vassilis Douvitsas
Publication Date: May 2026
Language: Greek
Pages: 48
Dimensions: 13×23.5
Format: Print edition
Description: Paperback, drawings
ISBN: 978-618-5981-03-7
Price: €7
The book is available at the Onassis Shop and soon in selected bookstores.
