Portuguese director Tiago Rodrigues fashions a play out of memories, songs and fragments of his father’s writings, wishing to celebrate a small victory over death. It is also a celebration of theatre and its power to find joy even in the saddest moments.

For the sixth episode of the Histoire(s) du Théâtre series, Portuguese director Tiago Rodrigues looked to his father for inspiration. Rogério Rodrigues was a renowned journalist. Just before his death, while in hospital, he began working on his final article – about his life as a terminal patient. Every day, he took notes in a small booklet. After his father’s death, Tiago Rodrigues opened the notebook. It only contained a few lines and dots, like a toddler’s abstract drawings. In No Yogurt for the Dead, Rodrigues is now imagining the unwritten pages. He fashions a play from memories, songs and fragments of his father’s writings, wishing to celebrate a small victory over death. In a surreal landscape with hospital beds gliding across an icy sea, every scene becomes a playful variation on the theme of partings. It is also a celebration of the theatre and its power to find joy even in the saddest moments.