Theatre Laundering

6.30pm – Pay What You Can £17.00 / £15.00 / £13.00

Three theatrical portraits of Newsha Tavakolian (Iranian-Dutch photographer), Setareh Nafisi (composer), and Marene van Holk (theatre maker) and the impossible choices they faced as artists, migrants, and human beings. Choices that are not neat, not pure, and precious. These dilemmas form the starting point of the interactive performance Theatre Laundering, led by director Arvand Dashtaray.

After 23 years of theatre-making and cultural activism in Iran, Dashtaray has arrived in the Netherlands. In Iran, theatre was a busy, urgent space, a space that demanded interpretation, collaboration, and shared risk from its audience. Here, he encounters a different landscape and wonders whether theatre can have a societal impact or provoke political resistance.

In a new theatre text by Naghmeh Samini, the performance explores the desires and expectations of western theatre audiences. Which stories do we want to hear? Which versions of those stories are preferred? Is there still room for the unwashed reality? Must pain be translated, alleviated, or filtered before it can be exported for consumption?

Please note: The performance is mostly in English with occasional Dutch and Persian sentences accompanied with surtitles.

Running time: 2h, followed by a post-show discussion