The Child
Shieveh Theater Company (Teheran)
Persian with German and English surtitles | Recommended for ages 14+
Three women. A newborn baby. A heavily guarded border. In THE CHILD, Iran’s Shieveh Theater Company tells a strikingly topical story about flight, responsibility and humanity in a world that is increasingly closing itself off to people seeking protection. A Yazidi woman from Iraq, an Afghan woman and a Libyan woman – each with her own story of flight – are detained and interrogated by border authorities. With them is a newborn baby. When the officials try to determine who the mother is, the unexpected happens: none of the women claims the child as her own. Yet this decision is an act of radical care – made in the hope of giving the baby a life in safety, even if the women themselves face deportation. A moving chamber play about solidarity, identity and the moral limits of state power.
Directed by the multi-award-winning Afsaneh Mahian and based on a text by playwright Naghmeh Samini, THE CHILD combines documentary precision with poetic intensity. Without pathos, the production focuses on the individual fates behind political debates about migration and asylum. Numbers and headlines give way to personal experiences, losses and hopes.
The Shieveh Theater Company from Tehran is one of Iran’s most important independent ensembles. Its work consistently engages with social realities and, in particular, women’s lived experiences, and is regularly presented at international festivals and venues. THE CHILD is a powerful plea for compassion and dignity – and a reminder that behind every case file is a human life.
Biographies
Afsaneh Mahian, theatre director, graduated in master of theatre directing from the faculty of arts and architecture of Tehran Azad University. She is a permanent member of Iran’s Theatre House and the board member of Iranian club of directors. She has started her professional career since 1994. She is the founder of Shieveh Theatre Company and has won many awards at Fajr theatre festival. She has taken several plays to international festivals in Finland, Italy, France, Czech Republic, Portugal, Belgium, Greek, Turkey, etc.
Manouchehr Shoja, set designer, graduated in scenic design from the faculty of fine arts, at university of Tehran. He has started his professional career since 1994. He is a member of the association of set designers of Iran’s theatre house. Thus far, he has won many awards at Fajr theatre festival. He has accompanied Shieveh Theatre Company in its international performances.
Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, a multi-award-winning and one of the most distinguished Iranian actresses who has won more than 80 national and international prizes, such as the best actress award from Montreal film festival 2011, the prestigious Henry Langlois prize in 2012, the best actress prize in Urania Awards in Vienna, Bogacici Film Festival, and Special Mention in Asia PACTICT 2015. She was also mentioned as the best actress in Iran’s history of cinema from the critics’ point of view in 2017. She has started her career in theatre as a teenager and has years of experience in improvised theatre performance. She has appeared in over 70 films and collaborated with some of the master directors of Iranian cinema such as Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Rakhshan Bani-Etemad. She is a professor of cinema and theatre at the University of Isfahan. She has been a jury member of more than 60 international film festivals. She is also a founding member of the Performers Society of the Iranian Cinema. Motamed-Arya is among the 15 international figures whose portraits are on display at a multimedia exhibition titled “The Transformative Power of Art” at the UN in New York 2015.
Naghmeh Samini was born in Iran and received her BA in Drama and MA in Cinema both from the University of Tehran. She is a PhD Holder in Drama and Mythology. More than twenty plays of her have been staged in Iran, France, India and etc. This award-winning playwright has also written several screenplays. She has been working as a professor at the University of Tehran since 2005 and has also run several workshops in Iran and abroad. As a researcher she has published two books about Thousand and one night and Drama and mythology in Iran and she has also authored many articles. Some of her awards and achievements include: Best book of the year in Iran for Myth's theatre/ An Archetypical approach to Iranian Dramatic literature 2009, Winner of the Best playwright in the Second playwright's forum festival- 2008, Winner of the best screenwriter in International Fajr film festival 2007, Winner of the Best playwright in the city of Tehran 2005, Winner of the Best playwright in International Fajr theatre festival in the years of 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, One of the selected playwrights by the "Center of dialogue between civilizations" 2003, Best woman film Critic and the best playwright in "Kosar" cinema festival 1997.
Mehran Nael received his bachelor in acting from the faculty of fine arts at the University of Tehran and his master in theatre directing from Tarbiat Modares University. Over the course of his professional career since 2000, he has appeared in more than 40 films and Tv series and acted and directed in the field of theater. He has gone on many international stages in Canada, at Shanghai International Contemporary Theatre Festival, Lisbon Academic Theater Festival (FATAL), the Morgenland Festival in Germany, Istanbul Theatre Festival, Armenia International Performing Arts festival.
Shiva Falahi was born in 1980. She is graduated in BA in Handcrafts from the Shiraz University. She started her professional career in 2003 and has appeared in more than 30 plays, performances art and multimedia. She has performed on international stages since 2005 in collaboration with Amirreza Koohestani, Kamal Hashemi and Stale Stensile.
Credits
Text Naghmeh Samini Director Afsaneh Mahian Director's Advisor, Stage, Costumes + Lighting Designer Manouchehr Shoja Performance Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Mehran Nael, Shiva Fallahi Assistant Director & International Projects Manager Gilnaz Yousefian Kreation Iranshahr Theater, Teheran, März 2022
Production Afsaneh Mahian / Shieveh Theater Company
www.shieveh.com
The Child (Photos: Fatemeh Hasanvand, Akhtar Tajik)
Main Supporters
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