by Nassim Soleimanpour’s 2010 play has been performed in more than 30 languages and, like many of the Iranian theater maker’s projects, is a cold read show – performed by someone who has neither seen nor rehearsed the script. It’s a thrill when an artist relying on their wits and an audience who doesn’t know what to expect encounter a lyric for the first time.
This theater is in the round, so there’s a leisurely turn – the only flourish for a show that unfolds under unchanging lights, on a stage empty except for two glasses of water on a red metal table and a chair with a large chair is red envelope.
At each show, a different cast member pulls the script out of the envelope. I see Michael Sheen taking a strange deep breath as he turns the first page. He stumbles slightly with some of the stage directions – and yes, he’s asked to impersonate an ostrich – but even though it sounds like an ordeal, Soleimanpour isn’t out to win the guest starring role.
Olly Alexander, Miriam Margolyes, Adjoa Andoh and Paloma Faith will all join in this star-studded Soho run. Each will undoubtedly bring their own qualities, but the work suits Sheen’s gift for whimsy, outrage and stirring exhortation. He also navigates an eager beaver crowd that exudes a giggly, almost protective energy toward him: there’s no shortage of volunteers for audience participation.
The play, a web of fables centered around rabbits, is “less of a play and more of an experiment,” explained Soleimanpour. What is being investigated? We are asked to consider risk, complicity and conformity, but ultimately White Rabbit Red Rabbit explores the laws of live theater – the way an audience ebbs and flows in disbelief; our joy in watching an event take shape even without a rehearsal. And when an unforeseen accident occurs, it only increases our joy.
Soleimanpour now lives in Berlin and wrote the piece, according to his text, in the city of Shiraz in 2010. It is moving to reflect on the journeys of this text, which comes from a repressive state. Perhaps it is inevitable that the play, staged in the heart of London’s entertainment district, comes across as more playful than serious – it cannot quite cope with the high stakes it entails.
• At @sohoplace, London until November 9th
