Amir Reza Koohestani

WHAT IF WE DON’T

CREATION 2024

a 20-minute play in Farsi and English

Direction Amir Reza Koohestani
Text Amir Reza Koohestani, Keyvan Sarreshteh, Mahin Sadri
Designer (light, costumes, and stage) Éric Soyer
Cast Mahin Sadri, Keyvan Sarreshteh
Production Pierre Reis, Mehr Theatre Group
Coproduction Sharjah Art Foundation


SYNOPSIS

A group of immigrants who have just arrived by sea enter a room to register their details into the refugee camp’s system. A male doctor wearing protective gear asks them to proceed, handing them a registering form. He takes a photograph and fingerprints of each person and assigns them an identification number. A woman from the audience questions whether everyone must register. The doctor replies that they must be accepted into the camp. When asked what happens if someone refuses to register, he says they must register to be sent to the camp.

A woman and a man are talking in a language the others do not understand. After a few minutes, the man takes off his white uniform and gives it to the woman, who puts it on while he wears one of the golden rescue blankets like the others. She leaves, pretending to be a doctor, while the group follows the actual doctor to the roof. From there, they see the woman removing the uniform and discarding it in a trash bin before disappearing.

He tells the audience that on the next day, he heard that a boat full of refugees had drowned. He’s not sure whether the woman was among them. He hopes to see her again, but it never happens. He promises to look for another uniform to register the group, but he never returns. Instead, the festival staff ask the audience to leave the roof as a new group of refugees is about to arrive.


DATES

. 9, 10, 11 February 2024 / Sharjah Art Foundation