FACES: White Rabbit, Red Rabbit in Greece

Check out these great shots of the White Rabbit, Red Rabbit performances that happened in Greece. You can see L'I.F.A.'s full photostream here.

VOICES: Jubilith Moore (San Francisco)

Dear Nassim,

My name is Jubilith Moore and I recently had the honor of being an actor in your play White Rabbit, Red Rabbit as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival.  It was a very interesting challenge for me and did not cater to my strengths, if I have any, as a performer.  I committed myself to going in completely ignorant and it was a neat exercise in being present.  

Participating in this production and getting to read your words was very affecting.  I now find myself wanting to reach out to you, along with many others, to thank you.  Thank you for writing a simple (please note, I did not say  easy!) script and for taking such good care of me.  A truly meta-theatrical experience that brought the 51 of us in the room and you together.

Audience members were still talking about the performance more than an hour after the end of the performance!  I congratulate you and again thank you.  Now, I look forward to learning more about your work.

Keep up the brilliance and please

Take Great Care,

Jubilith

VOICES: Rik Eckhardt (The Netherlands)

Dear Nassim,

Yesterday I visited the play 'White rabbit, red rabbit' at Speeltheater Holland in Edam, The Netherlands. 

Your play was performed in Dutch by one of my countries great actresses Betty Schuurman. It was a very special and unique experience to be part of it as a member of the audience. Especially because I was the note taker. Hereby I send you the notes I took while watching the play, I had my Ipad with me so I wrote it down right away, there is no censorship in my notes. Of course it's written in Dutch, to prove your play has been translated and played in The Netherlands. When you want to read it, I suggest you use google translate so you can choose whatever language you want to understand my writing.

I want to thank you for sharing your story with us. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in a country you can't get out of and to live in fear. I hope your writing and your arts will help you to give hope to yourself and the people you love. I wish you all the best. For me, attending the play was a wonderful experience and I want to thank you for that.

Hope is what drives us!

Kind regards and best wishes for the future,

Rik Eckhardt

The Netherlands

Ps: I also attached a blurry picture I took with my Ipad... :)

Rik's Notes:

Nasim 10-12-1981.

Betty schuurman is een meisje van 49. Ze ziet er jong uit

Nummer 6 zegt dat het zondag is. 27 mei. Als ze harder praat is het nog steeds zo.

Hij is 29, vol hoop en energie.

Paspoort na 2 jaar militaire dienst.

Nasim heeft dat niet, het zijn de regels van de circus.

Als schrijver heb je geen paspoort nodig.

We zijn nu in edam. Nasim is in Chiraz. Er zijn bittersinasappels.

We houden een stoel voor hem bezet.

Het stuk is vertaald en het engels.

Bloedgroep: o positief.

Nasim is zwaar behaard. Hij heeft facebook.

In iran wordt facebook gefilterd.

Nassim.sn@gmail.com

De notulist maakt een foto.

Er zijn mooie vrouwen. Ze lachen.

De actrice is een cheetah die een struivogel immitatie doet.

Ik ben een rood konijn.

Waar liggen bij u de grenzen der gehoorzaamheid?

Als de politie komt voor onderzoek over nassim dan stellen ze heel veel vragen.

Leeft Nassim nog wel?

Er zijn heel veel mogelijkheden.

Moord is een groot woord.

De actrice heeft geen idee dat ze haar leven waagt.

Hoogstwaarschijnlijk is het gif nep.

Het gaat om de mogelijkheid, niet weten of...

De oom van nassim heeft rood konijn geschoten, maar het lukte niet.

De oom heeft een zelfmoordpoging gedaan, meerdere.

Vijf konijnen lijden honger in een kooi.

Ze worden gekozen uit het publiek. Sommigen melden zich vrijwillig aan. Betty houdt niet van dwang.

De vijf doen konijnentandjes.

Het verhaal over de konijnen gaat vrij snel. 1 konijn wordt rood geverfd, rest in koud water ondergedompeld.

Dadels is een wortel.

Jongen in paars is eerst bij de wortel. Toch is hij een klootzak.

Geen koud water meer, maar konijnen vallen toch de rode konijn aan.

Wortel uit het spel. Toch blijft resultaat hetzelfde.

Verleden maakt toekomst.

Straks door met zelfmoord. Nu even iets anders.

30 seconden intermezzo, konijn naar circus.

17 manieren voor zelfmoord. Vuurwapen, aders doorsnijden, verdrinking, verstikking, electrocutie, explosie, ophangen, springen uit voertuig, ongeluk, hoogte, vergiftiging, verbranding, hara kiri of sepuku, hongerstaking, onthoofding, zelfmoordaanslag, indirecte middelen

LEVEN is ook zelfmoord.

Het leven gaat om kleine dillema's

De actrice zou zich minder op haar gemak beginnen te voelen.

Wat is het schone glas?

Is nummer 5 een kraai of een beer?

Is het gif echt?

Er zijn drie opties om uit te kiezen.

Niemand zal de uitvinder van het geweer voor de rechter slepen.

Nassim is niet verantwoordelijk.

Wij als publiek zijn schuldig.

Misschien heeft de actrice haar laatste zinnen gesproken.

Een mevrouw meldt zich aan.

Ze draagt een groene jurk.

De actrice heeft beide glazen heel serieus vast.

We mogen haar NIET aanraken.

Er ontstaat een discussie over wel of niet drinken.

Betty heeft zelf drinken mee.

Het is volbracht konijn. 

FACES: Rabbits in Edam (The Netherlands)

FACES: Rabbits in The Netherlands

With actor Hans Kesting 

With actor Hadewych Minis

VOICES: Annika (Amsterdam)

Sent from Amsterdam on May 20, 2012:

Hello Nassim,

I'm Annika van der Bij, female, age 53, from Amsterdam.

I saw your play tonight in Bellevue Theatre.

The actor was Gijs Scholten van Aschat.

I think you are brilliant in having created yourself ' wings ' with which you could be here tonight without a passport.

The girl who read the last part of the script emptied both glasses.

I ask myself what I would have done, had I read the script.

I think I would have let him pick a glass because to let him act out his role.

Your metaphors are powerful and will act out their part in my head...

Thx a lot for this very special meeting!

Good luck to you; may your liberty return to you in the future!!

Warm regards,

Annika

WRRR @ The Cultch (Vancouver)

White Rabbit, Red Rabbit will be at The Cultch this September. Enjoy their promo below, and visit their website for an incredible line-up of theatre for the 2012/13 season.

Fun fact: Tim Crouch, who will present I, Malvolio as part of The Cultch's 2012/13 season, was one of the first performers of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit when it premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe!

FACES: San Francisco Rabbits

Another shot from White Rabbit, Red Rabbit in San Francisco (with Blackberry camera included...so meta)

FACES: Rabbits in San Fran on May 13

Rhodessa Jones and the rabbits on May 12 at the San Francisco International Arts Festival.

VOICES: Hannah Vincent

Sent to Nassim after a performance in May 2012:


Hello,

I participated in a performance of your play White Rabbit, Red Rabbit last week. I found it a really powerful experience.

You mention in your script (now in my possession - a gift for what I did) that this is your first play in English and how hard it is for you to write in English but I am struck by the precision of your writing - your use of the worlds 'theatre' and 'circus' especially, and your employment of inverted commas around the title of your play.

I was moved by the vigour and the tenderness of your address to us, your fellow rabbits.

I wanted to dash those glasses of possibly-poisoned-water against the back wall of the theatre - we don't have to take up the gun!

Yours,
Hannah Vincent

SIDENOTE: Props to the Props Team from The Guardian

Here's a neat post from The Guardian's Theatre Blog giving props to the people that make them. Bella Todd recently saw White Rabbit, Red Rabbit in Brighton and Nassim's glasses of potentially poisoned water got her thinking:

"To my knowledge, not one has yet died performing [the show]...but watching a performance last week, I was struck by the notion that this humble prop - ordered by the playwright, administered by the audience member, imbibed by the actor, yet selected and supplied by some whose name probably wouldn't even apear in the programme - had the power to affect the whole course of the show."

For more from The Guardian, read on.

VOICES: The Red Shawl Show in San Francisco

The audiences and performers at the San Francisco International Arts Festival have been sharing some amazing stories with Nassim over the past few weeks. Here is a great collection of emails and photos from the crowd on May 12, 2012.


THE RED SHAWL

Hello Nassim,

I was at your play last night. I took this picture riding the BART (subway) yesterday evening from Oakland to San Francisco to go on a first date with an Iranian friend to see your play. He was #3 and designated to play the rabbit.

Notice I am wearing a bright red shawl, given to me when I was 35, by a man selling antiques and things at a flee market in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was admiring the shawl and he asked me if I would wear it if he gave it to me.  It was his mother's. She had recently died and he did not want to sell it. I said yes.

The red shawl was used as the red hat by my friend in your play, and then later it became a prop used by our actor as he performed the part of the rabbit at the circus. He continued wearing the scarf and passed it on to the red rabbit, who was our final reader, at the end. Both our red rabbits were beautiful readers of the story.

Thank you for an amazing play. I felt like you were with us. I liked it on so many levels.

Greetings and blessings from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sherri

THE REACTION

Nassim,

When I read about White Rabbit, Red Rabbit in my SF Art Festival email I knew it was not to be missed. I wasn't disappointed.

Your play was so imaginative. Your analogy with the red rabbit was astounding! It is true in far too many circumstances. And your English was impressive. Though the subject was very deep, the process of getting to know you and your sense of humor left me feeling more knowledgeable, yet happy to have had the experience. The actor, Paul Flores, did a great job.

Jeesh, it was stunning to hear how the white rabbits who never were wet with cold water continued to attack the red rabbit. Such a metaphor! Excellent!

BTW, I was one of the white rabbits. If you get the pictures from SF on Saturday, May 12, 2012, I'm the older rabbit in the gray sweater.

I wish you the best in your future endeavors and I hope to learn more about you in the future.

Sincerely,

John Regan

P.S. I would love to see those pictures if it's not to much trouble to forward them...

THE PHOTOS

Dear Nassim,

I had the great pleasure of attending last night performance of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit acted by Paul Flores last night at  SF International Arts Festival!!

And, to be number 11 and to have the privilege of reading the last three pages of the script, and to become the new red rabbit... 

Attached some pictures from last night performance.

Thank you so much for being the initiator of this great "adventure". I wish you all the best for its continuation.

Silvia

VOICES: Leonard Pitt (San Francisco)

Sent to Nassim by Leonard Pitt after a performance at the San Francisco International Arts Festival:

Hello Nassim,

I am sending you these two fotos from a performance of your show.

The woman on the left Patty Silver is doing the show. She is a friend of mine and is a fine actress and is currently in a company called Word For Word.

Of particular interest are two of the people in the line-up.

On the far left is Joan Holden, one of the founders of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. The troupe is a political theatre company that has been around for an amazing 50 years. Joan was their main writer for years until she retired a few years ago. You can find them on the web I'm sure. They do free outdoor performances and take donations from the audience. The guy on the far right has been an actor in the troupe for many years and is particularly well known for his portraying of Dick Cheney. People love to hate him.

Everyone has a good time that night.

Best,

Leonard Pitt

VOICES: Michael Gene Sullivan (San Francisco)

Sent to Nassim by Michael Gene Sullivan after performing in San Francisco. Spoiler alert: an animal may have been harmed in order to conclude this performance...

Mr. Soleimanpour,

Last night I performed "White Rabbit Red Rabbit" at the San Francisco International Arts Festival. I'm not going to tell you how good the piece is - I'm sure you get that from all the performers and audience members, as well you should.

I wanted to say that last night - I didn't drink either.

I hope you don't think that's too messed up, but you gave me a choice. You questioned earlier in the play whether or not the actor would stay, knowing that they may die. You, the author, brought up the idea of not following the orders of an unknown authority figure.

So at the end, when it came to the moment of making a choice between glasses, two things were going on: Firstly, the audience was chanting "Don't do it!" rather loudly. I'm guessing that I had a more activist audience than most. When asked if they had anything to say they came back with "Don't drink!" They said I should pour them out. I understood that they didn't want me to die, but also they didn't want me to submit. But, as an actor, I wanted to fulfill the play, so I would reach for the glass, decided to bring your vision to them, but they would start shouting again. This went on for some time. A really long time.

I also didn't want to drink. Not because I might be poisoned, but because it's just not me. Audience or not, you addressed me personally, asked ME to make a choice. Not a character, ME. I know the point of the show, I understand putting the audience in position of watching rather than doing, of being witnesses to a murder without reason and not acting to stop it. But if I drank it would be to finish the show, to get it over with. As a character, fine, as an actor, fine - but as me - I just couldn't take the order. I'm just too damn rebellious.

Again, I would have done it as a character in a play, but you'd made a point of asking ME to do it, and I couldn't.

After several attempts, several agonizing reaches for the cup, and a growing chorus of "NO!"  for the audience one person said "Have the ostrich drink it." So that's what I did. My ostrich was my hand, so I had it dip its beak. I still feel bad about that. On some level I submitted to the dictates of theater, of finishing the play at the expense of my ostrich's life.

But if I hadn't we'd still be sitting there.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know. It really is a great piece, and congratulations on making so many people feel so much. That's what theater is supposed to do.

Michael Gene Sullivan

www.michaelgenesullivan.com

VOICES: A Note From a Note-Taker (San Francisco)

Sent to Nassim by Gifford from San Francisco:

Hello Nasim,

My name is Gifford. I was the note-taker at your play which I just saw in San Francisco a few minutes ago.

First, thank you for a fascinating, entertaining, and morally/existentially challenging play!

Our actor did not drink either of the glasses. The audience loudly discouraged him from drinking either. I myself shouted "No!" just as he brought one glass to his lips. One audience member shouted out to have the ostrich drink it, so he dipped his fingers (ostrich beak) into one glass and pretended to keel over.

Your play shifted me from observer to participant in an act of social responsibility. It kept reminding me of the Stanley Milgram psychology experiment of 1961 where a white-coated "Doctor" with a clipboard pressed the volunteer test subject to increase the voltage in "shocking" someone (actually an actor) in the next room. How far would the volunteer go, on mere orders from an authority figure?

You've brought (at least for a brief moment) to America, the experience all of you in Iran must experience all the time of how you choose and what you choose to do.

Thank you,

Gifford

Sent from my iPhone

FACES: Rabbits on May 11 (San Francisco)

A group of rabbits at the San Francisco International Arts Festival:

VOICES: Paul Bazely (Brighton)

An email sent to Nassim by actor Paul Bazely:

Dear Nassim,

My name is Paul Bazely and last night I performed your play White Rabbit, Red Rabbit at the Nightingale Theatre in Brighton England as part of the Brighton festival.

I wanted to tell you what a beautiful, charming, thought-provoking, funny and moving piece of theatre it is. I felt like I was part of the audience as much as I was performing it. Before the show I had some quiet time thinking about how I am just a conduit between you and the audience (it helps me not to get nervous); then I discovered that that was partly what your play was about!

The audience laughed a lot, but they were also moved, as I was by certain parts. At the end, when number 2 read the final pages and sad "is he now a young writer from Iran?" I felt your presence in a real way. Afterwards the note taker came up to me and had a chat. It was a wonderful experience.

I thought I should confess that when I told them about Shiraz and you mentioned Hafez, I added a verse of his poetry in the original Persian. I played an Iranian recently on British TV and had learnt it for that. It seemed to fit and give the audience an idea of why he is so revered. I told them it was my addition and then said "back to the play" and continued. I hope you don't mind.

I loved your theme about plays speaking to us over time and space. I have performed quite a lot of Shakespeare and have often felt him speaking to us directly over the centuries. When you said "Do you have Facebook in your time?" it made me think of this.

Your English is superb! It in no way felt like a translation. It was much more fluent than a lot of plays by some English playwrights!

You are a talented young writer. I hope to meet you one day and maybe perform some more of your plays.

I feel I've met you.

Many congratulations and warmest regards.

Paul

From The Nightingale (blog):

"Part of the excitement and wonder of watching live theatre is the knowledge that every performance is unique, and the quality of live interaction between actor and audience is all the more thrilling in the small-scale arena, away from the slick hydraulics and automated scenery of theatre land. In close proximity we can be acutely aware that the actors on stage are responding to the audience in real time, and that this particular performance is happening for the first and last time. White Rabbit, Red Rabbit takes this powerful aspect of theatre performance one step further..."

Read the full review here.

REVIEW: Exeunt (Brighton)

Exeunt, Tom Wicker

"...an exercise of artistic freedom that depends on the performer's and the audience's mutual acceptance of authorial control..."

"...a punch in the air for self-expression..."

"Neither the performer on stage nor we, as the audience, stand apart from the circus and the experiment; we are part of both...Complicity is what keeps us in our seats."

Read the full review here.

VOICES: Messages on Facebook (Brighton)

REVIEW: British Vogue

British Vogue's Top 10 Unmissable Highlights from the Brighton Fringe

"Fringe by nature is a play you discover people," Fringe director Julian Caddy told us. White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is an extraordinary piece of theatre written by young Iranian author Nassim Soleimanpour (who can't travel to perform it himself because of Iranian laws). Performed by a different actor at each show, none of whom have ever seen the script before stepping onto the stage, the play is sharp, political, and ab-crunchingly funny."

VOICES: Leah Virsik (San Francisco)

Dear Mr. Soleimanpour,

Your play "Red Rabbit, White Rabbit" was such a gift. Thank you.

My husband Tom and I attended the performance last night presented by the San Francisco International Arts Festival (SFAIF). There were 15 people including the wonderful actor Ms. Velina Brown and yourself. I was the note taker.

I find it interesting that as much as I want to travel, I haven't or don't because of self-imposed limitations. But to think that I couldn't travel, I can't imagine.

Tom and I kept talking about the play last night and even still today. I'm a huge art fan and appreciate an artist's request to connect with the audience but it's not often that I¹m so compelled.

Your play broke down barriers by not giving the actor a chance to rehearse and by giving the audience a chance to participate. And in that participation we got to experience what you were expressing. The last play I attended, the author was patronizing toward the audience and made me question how much money I had spent on the performance. Your consideration was refreshing.

Ms. Velina Brown did an exceptional job of recreating the thirty-second scene of the white rabbit's experience at the circus. I was reminded of Tom's retelling of a scene in a play directed by a favorite local director and playwright, Mark Jackson. http://www.artstreettheatre.org/mark.htm The scene from that play is a Russian director auditioning young actors for his theater. A young woman (Maria Babanova) wants to join and offers to perform Hamlet at her audition. The stage directions are: "Without speaking a word, Babanova enacts Hamlet in its entirety in about a minute. It's

rather impressive." "Death of Meyerhold" Act II, Episode 5  (we have a book of some of Mr. Jackson¹s early plays). Mr. Jackson also wrote and directed a play about suicide, it turns out: American $ucicide (freely adapted from The Suicide by Nikolai Erdman).

I enjoy listening to an artist's process and for you to express "it's really hard to write (the play) in English" reminded me that English is not your primary language. I was impressed with your use of what certainly sounded like authentic (American) English.

I realized afterward or at least I interpreted that as a "white rabbit" we think we have a choice to drink a glass of water that is untainted but we really don't. We have a choice to wake up to become the red rabbit. The audience member that stood up and read the rest of your script was a Russian actor who was part of the festival. He volunteered to be a new red rabbit, so to speak. I feel lucky to live in a diverse, multi-cutural area that's brought even closer together by your work.

Do you see anything good in "white rabbits"? I suspect there must be. I think every white rabbit has an opportunity to become a red rabbit but can there only be one red rabbit in a cage?

Thanks for giving me a challenging perspective in a thoughtful, compelling way. Your work inspires me to create touching work.

Leah

P.S. The details you provided about yourself made you all the more human and I was curious about the sour orange trees you mentioned in Shiraz. We have a Meyer lemon tree and just planted a lime tree at our home.

VOICES: Gregor (Oldenburg)

Dear Nassim,

I hope, this mail reaches you in a good mood. You do not know me, but I had a wonderful opportunity to meet you in a way...

I had the honour and the great pleasure to be your actor in White Rabbit/Red Rabbit in Oldenburg, Germany on april, 21st.

All I want to say for now is, that this had been one of the best experiences in my twenty years as actor and, as far as I noticed, you have created an artpiece, that deeply touches and moves both, actor and audience!

Thank you so much for that. Keep up your work, stay upright and be safe and happy.

My best regards,
Gregor

VOICES: Leonard Pitt (San Francisco)

Hello Nassim,

I am one of your actors and I did your piece yesterday. I was the 4th in the series of 20.

I enjoyed it from beginning to end and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to do something so crazy and totally fun.

And also to Andrew for asking me to do it.

As I told people when they asked me if I was nervous, "No, I'm not nervous. Nothing can go wrong because everything can go wrong."

And with that my sole purpose was to go out and there give the audience a great good time the best I could.

From what people said afterwards it seems to have gone well.

I wish you well and hope someday you achieve the freedom you so richly deserve.

Your friend,

Leonard Pitt from Berkeley

VOICE: Shubhra Prakash (San Francisco)

Hello Nassim,

Leonard Pitt performed your script yesterday at the SF International Arts Festival and it was wonderful. What you made possible was incredible. I never thought something like that could be done, but you  have reached us and continue to reach people.  Theater like this transcends and I was glad I was  able to witness it :)

Sincerely,

Shubhra Prakash

PHOTOS: One Night in San Francisco

Many thanks to Ben Isaac for sending these to Nassim!

REVIEW: San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Hurwitt

"...each approach to Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour's "White Rabbit, Red Rabbit," contains its own unexpected rewards - and none will be repeated..."

"...there's a magnetic mind behind the prose. "Rabbit" is a lightly comic, deceptively discursive, metatheatrical monologue..."

Read the full review here.

REVIEW: Mercury News (San Francisco)

Mercury News, Karen D'Souza

"...the playwright slyly examines the desire to submit to authority and the ways in which that impulse can be exploited by the clever and charismatic..."

"...an intoxicating stream of consciousness from the heart of Iran that will leave you at once amused and alarmed..."

"...it's only after seeing the play unfold more than once that the unsettling subtext of the piece becomes clear. The tone and thrust of the piece change completely at each performance."

Read the full review here.

FACES: Rabbits in Brighton

Sue MacLaine

Rabbits in Brighton

VOICES: Jonathan Hickey (Brighton)

The following email was sent to Nassim by Jonathan Hickey after seeing White Rabbit, Red Rabbit in Brighton: 

Dear Nassim,

I have just got home from watching, and somewhat to my surprise, participating in your play at the Nightingale Theatre, Brighton and Hove City in the United Kingdom.

I want to first of all tell you how sorry I am that you do not have a Passport. I find myself resenting the fact that you cannot visit those places that your work can.

Secondly - congratulations on a brilliant piece of theatre - I very much enjoyed it.

And thirdly having just looked you up on facebook - congratulations on your recent marriage.

Despite being your Bear, I was also your New Red Rabbit as none of the other rabbits in the audiance wanted to read the last few pages of your suicide guide and I was obliged to volunteer - lest poor Alister (Your actor and my friend) be left sitting on the stage.

Best regards

Number 9/Bear/New Red Rabbit

Or

Jonathan Hickey

Born: 16th November 1972 thats 9th Shawwal 1392 in Persian years

I am English and if I'm honest - quite pleased about that!

Thank you again

REVIEW: Fringe Review (Brighton)

***** Five Stars
May 4, 2012, Fringe Review (full article)

"...an eerie sensation. Nassim Soleimanpour remains in Iran, but his presence hovers over the stage and it feels like he's here with us now...a testament to the power of theatre and of the written word."

"...a sharp lesson in personal responsibility. "If you are a passing viewer of this suicide, you are more of a sinner than me" says Nassim...I still worry about that, and several audience members I talked to afterwards did too."

"...it was a stunning piece of theatre, thought-provoking and morally unsettling. It's a wonderful testament to the power of words to transcend cultures and borders. It fully deserves five stars."

Congrats, Nassim!

White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is at the Brighton Fringe until May 9.

VOICES: Clare Cathcart (Brighton)

The following message was sent to Nassim by actress Clare Cathcart after her performance of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit at the Nightingale Theatre in Brighton.

Hi Nassim,
I hope this finds you well and happy.

My name is Clare Cathcart. I'm an actress and have just performed White Rabbit, Red Rabbit at the Nightingale Theatre in Brighton. I loved it. I don't think my ostrich impersonation was very good!

My absolute gut reaction was to not drink either glass, which is of course the choice I would have made in life. But I drank both of them and as I drank the "doctored" one there was a gasp from the (too small) audience. And as I lay on the floor, I did wonder. I felt my arms get heavy and wondered if I would fall into an anaesthetic induced type sleep. The power of suggestion?!

Thank you for your words. It's gathering pace here. I'll probably try and see it at the Gate in London. And I know the woman who has booked it for Latitude Festival...she was there tonight and read the last two pages. It was easy to read as it flows from the page. It was a strange exercise. As an actor we are used to assuming a definite character...I found an almost Brechtian distance from myself as I read it.

Thank you for it. And I am so pleased for you that it will reach more and more people in England.

I hope all is well with you. I've never been to Iran and have never consciously thought about it...but who knows! I am Irish and your world is very different to anything I have experienced. But, your themes are universal...

Take care

Clarexx

FACES: Rabbits in America

Here are a few rabbits from White Rabbit, Red Rabbit's US performances over the weekend:

San Francisco (May 4)

Seattle (May 6)

FACES: More Rabbits in Oldenburg

COMING SOON: White Rabbit, Red Rabbit in San Fran

White Rabbit, Red Rabbit will be in San Francisco for its US Premiere at the San Francisco International Arts Festival.

Tickets are available online, with shows running May 4 - 20.

Here are a couple of interviews with Nassim in advance of the US Premiere:
White Rabbit, Red Rabbit - San Francisco Chronicle
I'm not there - San Francisco Bay Guardian

ROUNDUP: Notes from Oldenburg

White Rabbit, Red Rabbit was playing at the PAZZ Festival in late April, with performances in German and English. Here's a quick roundup of opinions on the show, including some video with actress Anna Thalbach:

Wenn Worte um die Welt reisen (If Words Travel Around the World) - NWZ Online

From Oldenburger Lokalteil: