Where this comes from...

Back in 2008 I saw a film; A Jihad for Love by Parvez Sharma. It was a documentary focusing on the lives of gay Muslims around the world. The stories it told were all incredibly powerful, but the section that stayed with me the most was the one which focused on Amir, Payam, Arsham and Mojtaba. They were four gay men who had escaped from repression in Iran and found themselves in central Turkey. There they were seeking asylum through the UN high commissioner in a third safe country (Turkey does not accept asylum claims from Iran).

At one point in the film we are shown images of Amir's back. His skin had been sliced off in ribbons following 100 lashes having been caught by the Iranian authorities at an underground gay party.

 
Mojtaba had been secretly married to his boyfriend and video had been made, but this tape had been stolen and his life was now in grave danger. The cruel paradox being that the UN now required him to present the video to support his claim. At another point Payam phoned his mother from a pay phone while the others watch from a street corner, a gang of nervous school boys. Weak with grief Payam ended his converstation. "I will be your mother" Says Arsham, camping it up (the aethetisation of pain as Sontag says). "But you're not." replies Payam as he moves off, leaving Arsham to look sadly on at a man who even the comfort of friendship cannot reach. We last see Arsham and Payam cruise down a Canadian highway towards Toronto, marveling at their new world like tourists. Suddenly Arsham breaks down. "I used to think I would never see this day," he chokes, "I used to think, 'How can I be free when so many others can't." I thought of Mojtaba still waiting, his case unresolved, curled up in a sleep bag in a bare room in central Turkey... Let alone the many thousands whose stories had not been heard.

These images and moments struck me deeply, not for only the intensity of their situation, fleeing from such persecution, but also for the beautiful and gentle relationship that had develop between them. As a theatre maker I instantly wanted to tell their story on stage. But how? The film had been made years previously and I certainly didn't have the budget or resources to track these men down. Then it struck me; there are men and women right now in the U.K. seeking asylum on the grounds of homophobic persecution in their home country. They were living in the same city as me, caught in the gargantuan bureaucracy and frustration of our own asylum system. All I had to do was look for them and the stories would be there.

These things are never so easy however, and it has taken over two years of talking about it and gaining further experience as a director before the funding to back the project has been found. For this I would like to thank Rachel Jury of conFAB for sharing in my enthusiasm and the Awards for All Scheme for being our eventual backer. Now the Tron Theatre in Glasgow has given us space, and the 7th September opening night looms from my diary.

This blog will provide two things. It will list, link and share my thoughts  on as much of my research materials as possible, providing a data base for anyone with either an interest in the production or the subject matter. And it will document the process of making and developing the production for posterity, my own records and general interest.

I hope that the next twenty-two weeks will be a fascinating experience and result in an important piece of theatre; "Hearts Unspoken."

Film Website; http://www.ajihadforlove.com