‘White Rabbit Red Rabbit’ brings unique theater experience to Boston audiences

Photo: COURTESY ARTSEMERSON

Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour’s “White Rabbit Purple Rabbit” will briefly contact down in Boston Dec. 7-12 for 6 digital performances, each a completely exceptional theater knowledge. Every display is executed by a new actor who will come to the script fresh new, performs it for the to start with time for a dwell digital viewers and then presents his or her interpretation of Soleimanpour’s phrases.

Soleimanpour wrote “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” in 2010. He was forbidden to leave Iran because he refused to participate in military services services. The perform is a way to cross borders with text and link with the much larger entire world.

All through the COVID-19 shutdowns, Soleimanpour regarded a yearning for human connection and global knowledge comparable to what he experienced felt. “’Rabbit’ is a difficult enjoy,” says Soleimanpour. “I say tricky since the first engage in was composed under particular conditions, and it was prepared to defeat my journey limits. So it was purely natural for this specific engage in to be adapted for the duration of the lockdowns.”

Contrary to most theater productions, which call for intensive rehearsals, team, and intensive get the job done between the director and the actors, “White Rabbit Pink Rabbit” deliberately utilizes no preparing. The actor has not examine the script in advance and there is no director furnishing context or instruction. The actor is coming to the do the job as new to it as the audience associates. Soleimanpour did this because of to a motivation to listen to new voices. “I’m fascinated in freshness,” he claims.

With no time to craft a functionality, the actors carry their most reliable voices to the script. At the similar time, not giving the actor/director/creative staff time to put their have spin on the piece leaves the text and intention completely in the arms of the playwright.

For actors who are utilised to a extra normal performance framework, “White Rabbit Crimson Rabbit” is a prospect to jump out of their convenience zones. For audience users, it’s a scarce possibility to see a completely unique experience. No two performances are the similar. That feeling of not realizing what may possibly occur next has proved to resonate with audiences. Considering that its stage debut in 2011, the participate in has been translated into 25 unique languages and executed a lot more than 2,000 moments, together with by popular actors like John Damage, Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, Stephen Rea, Sinead Cusack and other people.

“This get the job done is utterly primary, and it is a piece about contemporary Iran and Nassim’s technology,” claims David Howse, executive director at ArtsEmerson. “We can assure our audiences they won’t at any time see some thing fairly like this.”