Unity Theatre: Liverpool Arab Arts Festival: Chambers of the Heart

Saturday 20 July, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Unity Theatre
£15
Book Tickets

Three women confront love, desire and memory in stories spanning East and West in the first staged performance of Chambers of the Heart.

Newly divorced and adjusting to living alone in lockdown, 30-something Yasmine turns to online dating but there is something oddly familiar about who she meets.

Reem is a Syrian refugee in her early 40s fleeing her country but unable to let go of the memory of an unrequited love.

Mother is in her early 70s and reluctant to be on stage as she is interrogated by her son who is trying to unlock the past.

Written by Hassan Abdulrazzak, directed by Sepy Baghaei and performed by Laila Alj, this work will debut as a staged performance at Liverpool Arab Arts Festival. 

Laila Alj

Laila is a London-based Moroccan performer. She is also a steering group member of MENA Arts UK. Theatre credits include: All’s Well That Ends Well (RSC), Hakawatis (Globe Theatre), Trouf/Scenes from *71 Years (L’Artisto/Centre Culturel Néapolis), French Without Tears (Orange Tree Theatre), A Night in Provence (Mill at Sonning), Ignorance (Hampstead Theatre). Screen credits include: Landscapers (HBO), FBI International (CBS), Ten Percent (Amazon), Homeland (Fox), Casualty (BBC). Radio includes: French Like Faïza, Lullaby, Girls of Riyadh.

Hassan Abdulrazzak

Hassan Abdulrazzak’s plays include The Special Relationship (Soho Theatre, 2020), And Here I Am (Arcola Theatre, 2017 and touring), Love, Bombs and Apples (Arcola Theatre, 2016 and UK tour; Golden Thread, San Francisco, 2018 followed by a second UK tour; Kennedy Centre, Washington DC, 2019), The Prophet (Gate theatre, 2012) and Baghdad Wedding (Soho

Theatre, London 2007; BBC Radio 3, 2008; Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney 2009; Akvarious productions, Delhi & Mumbai 2010). Hassan has translated numerous Arabic plays. He is the recipient of George Devine, Meyer-Whitworth, Pearson theatre awards as well as the Arab British Centre Award for Culture. www.abdulrazzak.weebly.com

Sepy Baghaei

Sepy Baghaei is an Iranian-Australian theatre director based in London. Selected credits include: As director: Sokhan Begoo (Royal Court); Habibti Driver (Octagon Theatre); Mycorrhiza, Little Women, Wilde Tales, and Citizen (The Space); Re: Memory (Old 505 Theatre); Grimm Tales (City of Sydney Library). As associate director: The Boy With Two Hearts (National Theatre/Wales Millennium Centre). As staff/assistant director: Manor (National Theatre); Once Upon A Time In Nazi Occupied Tunisia (Almeida); Welcome To Iran (Theatre Royal Stratford East/National Theatre); Reasons To Stay Alive (Sheffield Theatres/English Touring Theatre); Othello (English Touring Theatre); As You Like It (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).

Further event information:

Suitable for 16 years and above.

The performance is 70 minutes and will feature a Q&A with the creative team after a short intermission.

Venue:

Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Place, Liverpool, L1 9BG