Cresco
The Veil
2007 & 2009 |
Neptune's Studio Theatre
“The Veil is visually stunning and totally engrossing…The story and images will stay with you long after you leave the theatre” – Kate Watson, The Coast – full review
“The audiences were intrigued with seeing Canadians interpreting the life of an Iranian woman” – CBC full review
“It is a history lesson, love story and the triumph of those mysterious veiled women that Westerners find so hard to understand” – Sean Allan, Review From The House
Debut November 2007, Halifax and Toronto
Written and Directed by Shahin Sayadi – based on Masoud
Behnoud’s Khanoom
Set Design by Shahin Sayadi with Jim Morrow / Mermaid
Theatre of Nova Scotia
Costume design by D’Arcy Morris-Poultney
Lighting design by Shahin Sayadi and Michael Mader
Sound design by Brian Buckle
Stage Manager: Hilary Graham
Cast: Lara Arabian, Valerie Buhagiar, Marty Burt, Nadiya
Chettiar, Pasha Ebrahimi, Genevieve Steele
Other: Tarek Abouamin (photography, animation) Jim Morrow
(puppet-maker), Jake Dambergs (projections, props, design)
January 2009, Halifax and Iran Tour
Stage Manager: Eleanor Creelman
Cast: Sarah Kitz, Deena Aziz, Marty Burt, Nadiya Chettiar,
Ari Millen, Genevieve Steele
September 2009, Canada Tour
Stage Manager: Michael Mader
Cast: Sarah Kitz, Valerie Buhagiar, Marty Burt,
Nadiya Chettiar, Ari Millen, Genevieve Steele
See her world from behind the veil…
Experience a Persian princess’s epic journey from the palace
harem to Europe where she survives personal and political
traumas, and her return to Iran, a country to be forever
changed by revolution. Written by Shahin Sayadi, based on
Masoud Behnoud’s epic novel Khanoom, The Veil tells the
story of one woman’s powerful struggle to survive the most
turbulent events of the 20th century (see full synopsis below).
Rich with the music and arts of the East and West, this
Onelight Theatre production had its successful debut at Neptune Theatre’s Studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Fall 2007 and then toured to The Harbourfront Centre Studio Theatre in
Toronto. Now we are about to embark on a ground-breaking
tour to participate in the Fadjr Theatre Festival in Tehran, Iran.
The Veil is an award winning Onelight Theatre production,
developed in association with Neptune Theatre and Mermaid
Theatre of Nova Scotia. Shahin Sayadi developed the script
with assistance from Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal and the
Banff Playwright’s Colony. Original costume design for The Veil
was by D’Arcy Morris-Poultney.
The Veil is a slightly fictionalized account of the exceptional
life experiences and survival of a Persian princess, Khanoom.
It is the story of one woman’s changing perspective of the
world, religion, politics and relationships, but most importantly,
it is about her changing perspective of herself and her place in
the world. In the story, as she journeys from her homeland to
Europe, and from childhood to adult life, her perspective of
both the world and herself grows and changes. The story is
both an epic tale which sweeps through modern history and an
intimate portrait of one woman’s journey from an insulated
childhood, to a rebellious youth, to a grown woman who must
make a place for herself in a world that is entirely different from her own and which is, itself, in constant flux.
The story begins in the segregated palaces of the Persian
Shah Ghajar; Khanoom was a princess whose life was ruled
by traditional class and gender expectations. Women of her
status, while well-educated, and well-kept, were expected to
live a life of seclusion, marry upon arrangement, and obey the
property and civil laws that left them second class citizens. Her
‘traditional’ life was supplemented by tutelage in feminist ideology by a rebel aunt; her closest friend. Compellingly, Khanoom and her aunt, despite their opposition to the status quo, are also the Shah’s favorites within the extended household of wives, mistresses and children.
During the Persian Constitutional Revolution, although Khanoom and her aunt secretly supported the anti-monarchist
constitutionalists, Khanoom is forced to flee to Russia along
with the rest of the royal family. Thus begins a life of upheaval
that sees Khanoom move to Turkey, Italy, France and Germany, has her wed twice, lose her fortune, become disowned by the royal family, and experience the political strife that marked 20th century Europe- revolutions, fascism, and war. In the end, believing that she has been widowed, she returns to her homeland, now Iran, and moves into a house that belongs to her childhood servants. The story of Khanoom, is both an epic tale which sweeps through modern history, and an intimate portrait of one woman’s journey from an insulated
childhood, to a rebellious youth, to a grown woman who must
make a place for herself in a world that is entirely different from her own and which is, itself, in constant flux. What is fascinating about Khanoom’s story is not only that she survives, but that she is able to find peace both with her adopted, Western home, and her abandoned Eastern birthplace. In the end, despite taking on many of the political and social philosophies of the West, it is Iran that she returns to live.
