Three theatrical portraits of Newsha Tavakolian, Setareh Nafisi, and Marene van Holk, Iranian-Dutch photographer, composer, and theater maker, and the impossible choices they faced as artists, migrants, and human beings. Choices that are not neat, not clean, and costly.
These dilemmas, together with director Arvand Dashtaray’s crisis as a maker, form the starting point of the interactive performance Theater Laundering.
After 23 years of theatermaking and cultural activism in Iran, Dashtaray has arrived in the Netherlands. In Iran, theater was a crowded, urgent space—one that demanded decoding, collaboration, and shared risk. Here, he encounters a different landscape and begins to question whether theater can still have a social impact or provoke political resistance.
In a new play by Naghmeh Samini, the performance explores the desires and expectations of the Dutch theater audience. What stories do we want to hear? Which versions of those stories are preferred? Is there still room for the unwashed reality?
What kind of pain is acceptable? Must pain be translated, softened, or filtered before it can be exported for consumption?
Theater Laundering is not an answer, but an arena: a space where taste, morality, and responsibility collide
Concept & Director: Arvand Dashtaray
Creatief Producent: Marene van Holk
Writer: Naghmeh Samini
Composer: Setareh Nafisi
Dramaturg: Cecile Brommer
Light design: Vasilis Apostolatos
Spel: Marene van Holk, Setareh Nafisi, Arvand Dashtaray
Assistent Producent: Mounia Balakouh
Grafisch ontwerp: Behrad Javanbakht
Photographer: Kiarash Mosayebi
Performances & Tickets:
17 january 20:15 – Theater aan het Spui Try-Out
18 january 15:00 – Theater aan het Spui Try-Out
14 march 20:15 – Theater aan het Spui Premiere
8 november 20:00 – Stadschouwburg Utrecht
