Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Stellar Quines Theatre Company Will Open New Studio With The Premiere Of Sara Shaarawi's SISTER RADIO

Pitlochry Festival Theatre to open its new Studio with premiere of the new play Sister Radio co-produced with Stellar Quines Theatre Company.

This August, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Stellar Quines Theatre Company are set to join forces to stage the world premiere of Sister Radio, Sara Shaarawi's (Niqabi Ninja) evocative and moving play about sisterhood and migration.

Directed by Stellar Quines Theatre Company's Artistic Director Caitlin Skinner, Sister Radio will open the new Studio at Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 25 August to 28 September ahead of an Autumn tour.

Sister Radio tells the story of sisters Fatemeh and Shirin who have been living together, in the same flat in Edinburgh, for 43 years. In this flat they cook, read their coffee grains, listen to the radio, and try to remember their childhoods in Tehran but they no longer talk to one another. When a global pandemic hits and the sisters are locked in their flat, they are forced to reckon with their memories of a betrayal that changed the course of their relationship.

Playing the roles of sisters Fatemeh and Shirin and making their debuts at Pitlochry Festival Theatre will be Lanna Joffrey (The Time of Our Lies, Park Theatre) and Nalân Burgess (Welcome to Iran, National Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East and the forthcoming The Sandman, Warner Brothers and DC Comics).

Sister Radio is directed by Stellar Quines Theatre Company's Artistic Director Caitlin Skinner, designed by Becky Minto, with lighting by Kate Bonney, music composed by Farzane Zamen and movement direction by Saffy Setohy.

Director Caitlin Skinner said

"We are thrilled to be sharing the World Premiere of Sara Shaarawi's new play Sister Radio with audiences in Pitlochry this summer and to be part of the great buzz of Pitlochry Festival Theatre's summer season. This play is already very beloved by Stellar Quines and our co-commissioners, Pearlfisher, but to be working with Pitlochry Festival Theatre to nurture and produce Sister Radio for the first time feels right. Especially as we will be part of a season of so many brilliant women-led stories and with plenty of women creatives too!

"It is exciting that it will be the first show run in the brand-new Studio at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. This will be the perfect space for Sister Radio as audiences will be able to feel the intimacy of this beautiful and tender play about the relationship between two sisters who migrate from Iran to Edinburgh in the 1970s. The play is full of music, nostalgia, vibrant characters, and a great story, as well as reflecting experiences of migration, which many will relate to. All the things you want to see when you come up to the beautiful 'Theatre in the Hills'."

Sara Shaarawi is a playwright from Cairo, based in Glasgow. Her first play Niqabi Ninja was produced by Independent Arts Projects (Edinburgh) and Hewar Theatre Company (Alexandria) and was performed in London (Shubbak Festival), Edinburgh (EIF/Lyceum), Glasgow (Tramway), Inverness (Eden Court), Aberdeen (Lemon Tree) and Dundee (Dundee Rep) as well as in Alexandria and Cairo. Her writing has been commissioned and supported by many theatre companies including The National Theatre of Scotland, Stellar Quines Theatre Company, and Fuel Theatre.

Sara Shaarawi said about her new play:

"Sister Radio is a play about two Iranian sisters in Edinburgh who find themselves grappling with layers of isolation over two time periods in their lives the first lockdown of COVID-19 in 2020 and the run up to the Islamic Revolution in 1979. I was interested in telling a story about the complex and intimate relationship sisters have, and about the ripple effect of the choices we make and how we choose to live with them. The story plays out over the two timelines in the same Edinburgh flat, I was particularly interested in the concept of 'living with one's memories and the theatrical possibilities that that brings.

I'm incredibly excited to have this piece programmed at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and to be working with Stellar Quines Theatre Company. I have a lot of admiration and respect for both companies, and I cannot wait to see them bring this play to life. It will be the first time I see my work fully realised in a theatre, so this makes it extra special for me. I hope people come see the play, it'll be a warm and loving portrait of sisterhood and migration, filled with children's games, feminist poetry, coffee readings and 70's Iranian pop tunes."

Sister Radio is co-commissioned by Stellar Quines Theatre Company and Pearlfisher.

Sister Radio runs from the 25 August - 28 September in the Studio at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. The production will then tour to venues in Scotland and England later in autumn 2022.

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