Perth Voice Interactive

WITH the world’s eyes focused on Iran’s response to Israel’s latest drone attacks on Hezbollah, and memories of Mahsa Amini’s death at the hands of the country’s morality police still lingering, Iranian-Australian playwright and actor Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson’s latest work comes at an opportune time to understand a little more about a most complex culture.

Eshraghian-Haakansson blends ancient Persian folklore with the fallout for those fleeing the 1979 Iranian revolution in her directorial debut A Love Letter to the Nightingale at The Blue Room Theatre this October. 

Collaborating with her brother Ashkaan Hadi and longtime friend and fellow actor Danyol Aghaie the trio brings to life “an immersive fairytale” of love, anger and acceptance.

Eshraghian-Haakansson creates her art with a conscious goal of good social change. 

“I genuinely believe that art has that power for social impact, positive social impact,” she said.

“I love things that are quite fantastical but also things that are rooted in reality, all grounded by lived experience.

“All my work in the past five or plus years has always explored trauma within community.”

Eshraghian-Haakansson ran art therapy workshops with co-writer Kara Flame to inform the creative process for A Love Letter. 

“It was relevant to people that have gone through certain traumas, whether this be domestic… gender-based trauma…  different kinds of displacement,” Eshraghian-Haakansson said.

“It was these different layers, these different communities all coming into this world that I started to sort of immerse myself in.”

A Love Letter to the Nightingale also draws inspiration from Persian folklore and mythological tales from the epic 11th century poem Shahnameh. 

Whilst the tragedies in Love Letter convey a universality to all human suffering both director and cast being Iranian-Australian’s sees their experiences of dual-identity explored. 

“That pull and push of both cultures, you know, how do you find your dual identity within this experience as Iranian-Australian and coming from this really intense background, community-wise,” Eshraghian-Haakansson said. 

“But then also our experience as second generation living here and not necessarily being able to visit our parents’ home or our grandparents’ home.

Aghaie also feels this push and pull.

“You grow up and you’re like, ‘you can’t go back to your country, you don’t know how your country looks like’,” he said. 

“You know you love Australia, but then growing up in the 90s, Australia doesn’t accept you.

“It took a while but you have to acclimatise in a weird way.

“Persians or Iranians, we have no home,” Mr Aghaie said speaking specifically of Bahá’í Iranians who are routinely persecuted by the Iranian government for their religious beliefs.  

“So it’s weird to talk about like our culture because we know plenty about it, but we’ve never experienced it.”

Aghaie plays the character Rage who is brought to life when Reason, played by Hadi, faces a traumatic experience.

“The bottom line with rage is that it’s a lot of pain, it’s a lot of anxiety, a lot of frustration and always looking for an answer that’s never there,” Aghaie said. 

“Reason is an anchor point of rage in the future, so the wisdoms that is gained over time,” Hadi said.

Rage and Reason battle towards a point of cohesion where there is space for the two to live without a loss of control. 

Eshraghian-Haakansson says it’s similar to her journey to find connection to culture. 

“I’ve never visited Iran before. I would love to, but I found my own way of navigating that connection to my heritage and to my culture and it’s through art, it’s through creativity,” she said. 

“As an Iranian, as an Australian, it’s always going to be an intermesh of everything. You can’t really split the two.

“I don’t feel solely Iranian, I don’t feel solely Australian, I’m both. I’m dual identity.”

Eshraghian-Haakansson hopes her storytelling can help to make the world a better place through facilitating conversations around trauma and creating art that is “an ode to those who hope for a better tomorrow”.

A Love Letter to the Nightingale
Blue Room Theatre
October 10 – 24
Tix: blueroom.org.au

by MOLLY ADDIS