Available in both digital and paperback versions - please select format above before adding to cart.
Translated by Nazanin Malekan & Mohammad Yaghoubi
A new apartment should be a warm and welcoming signal to a fresh chapter of life. It shouldn’t be where a family waits in the dark, surrounded by unpacked boxes, as missiles rain down around them.
Already eight years into the Iran–Iraq war, Nasrin and her two adult children—daughter Nahid and son Mahyar—just want to feel safe and settled. Tensions are already high, from bickering over who gets what room and what goes where to why Nahid’s husband left her. Mahyar leaves the apartment in a heated moment, leaving Nasrin wracked with fear. As the missiles start to strike and the power goes out, Nahid tries to hold everything together. From that moment on, it’s about survival.
This heart-wrenching meta-autobiographical play, presented in both English and Farsi, is a window into days when death was practically a neighbour in war-torn Tehran. It’s a dedication to those who are left behind with the trauma of war and survivors’ guilt. Author Mohammad Yaghoubi survived it, so he had to write about it.
Cast size: 8 actors
Male roles: 4
Female roles: 4
“The story shows the true cost of war.”
- Deanne Kearney, Mooney on Theatre
“A beautiful, painful truth is laid bare here: life—in all its nasty, sweet and frustrating aspects—seems so precious when you are forced to acknowledge how quickly it can be lost.”
- Istvan Dugalin, Istvan Reviews