Introduction

We started by collecting interviews with a group of women in their late 40s or 50s from Iran, Russia, France, the USA,  Austria, & the Netherlands. Besides the interviewees’ stories, the performers brought the results of hours of recorded dialogue with their own mothers and close relatives with whom they had deep-rooted memories. These materials formed the mosaic-like structure of the text.

Four main sources of pictorial elements and musical themes are central to the design of this project: the Iranian traditional passion play (Ta'zieh), the Iranian marriage proposal ceremony, and Iranian mourning rituals, as well as the play The House of Bernarda Alba by F.G Lorca.

So far, we have staged this project in Iran, Georgia, and the Netherlands. Invited by the theatre association of the Tbilisi Medical University, we shared the first phase of our rehearsals in an abandoned theatre hall of this institution. Next, we performed at the 6th Shahr theatre festival, in Tehran. Here, besides the hall in Pardis Theatre, the whole complex, the surrounding yard, and the historical cemetery close to the venue were employed as the setting of the performance. As our last station so far, the Grand Theatre in Groningen, hosted our team for a three weeks residency to further develop this artistic research, which led to a public presentation in this venue. This time the work found its final shape on the stage. As an ongoing project, we are continuously collecting documentary materials and working on the text. 

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