Lockdown Theatre Presents WELCOME TO IRAN on BBC Radio 3

Lockdown Theatre will present WELCOME TO IRAN on BBC Radio 3, at 7.30pm, on Sunday 11th April 2021.

Ava (Maimuna Memon) is a twenty-something dual heritage, British Iranian. Following the death of her estranged Iranian father, she journeys to Iran in search of his past and to connect with her family. Exploring this often misunderstood country, Ava is swept into a world of raves, raids and illicit love, all whilst negotiating family politics, Tehran traffic and the morality police.

A World Premiere for Lockdown Theatre on BBC Radio 3. Artistic director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, Nadia Fall weaves an imagined narrative together with real-life stories to construct a tender and witty snapshot of culture and life in modern Iran.

Nadia Fall, Theatre Royal Stratford East Artistic Director said,

'I would be on social media here and see posts of young fashionable Iranians, that would give the Kardashians a run for their money: lips pouted, dressed up to the nines and I was thinking this is not the Iran we are sold here in the West. I just thought it would be incredible to meet people and make a story inspired by the testimonials of everyday Iranians. This work is a love letter to Iranian people, who I found to be the most hospitable and poetic folk I have ever met. I was constantly invited to eat or offered gifts and even the Taxi drivers, and waiters recited poetry. I was particularly moved by the young people who absolutely held the same hopes and dreams you'd expect of the young, and despite many stifling restrictions they still found ways to express themselves and to find joy and love. They resisted the system in small ways every day, despite struggling with the effect of impossibly harsh sanctions imposed from outside the country and the draconian laws of the state within.'

Welcome to Iran was commissioned by Theatre Royal Stratford East and The National Theatre and was due to open at Theatre Royal Stratford East in April 2020.

Supported by Cockayne - Grants for the Arts and the London Community Foundation.

Cast:

Moe Bar-El, Nalân Burgess, Souad Faress, Karina Fernandez, Dana Haqjoo, Nicholas Karimi, Serena Manteghi, Maimuna Memon, Isabella Nefar, Joplin Sibtain

Original songs by Maimuna Memon

Music by Maimuna Memon and Kareem Samara

Theatre Sound Design by Alexandra Braithwaite

Radio sound design by Adam Woodhams and Steve Bond

Assistant Director Sepi Baghaei

Produced by Jeremy Mortimer

Executive Producers Joby Waldman and Bertie Carvel

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