4 Stars

****

Leila Ghaznavi has a huge input in this production as writer, director, producer and taking the lead role of Darya. The play is extremely moving and dramatic, yet infused with much humour.

Set in America, it is the day of Darya’s wedding to Ahmad (Matthew Goodrich). She bursts onto the stage locking herself into a room, having fled from the wedding ceremony. Ahmad comes to the door beseeching Darya to come out. His mind is in turmoil. She refuses to come out. She questions not her love for Ahmad but the finality of the wedding ceremony and the life-long commitment it will impose on her.

Thoughts of her parents relationship come flooding into her mind as well as thoughts of her brother. These come from memories she has as a young child growing up in Iran at the time when the Shah was deposed and replaced by a fundamentalist Islamic regime. She witnessed the both the happiness of her family life and its disintegration during the revolution and the Iran/Iraq war which followed shortly after.

The drama is enhanced by a variety of techniques including puppetry and animation but particularly by the use of silhouette screens to show the black and white outlines of her intended husband and her parents played by Armando McClain and Olivia Sandoval. The play’s ending is totally absorbing and tense as Darya has to make a decision whether to take the risk to embrace love or not.

It is a beautifully written piece of theatre with excellent performances from all the cast.

Reviewed by Ben

Assembly George Square – Assembly One: 3

4 to 28 August 2011 (not 16)

15.40 – 16.40

Fringe Programme Page Number: 297