Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Onelight Theatre returns to Harbourfront Centre Theatre with its new show, Asheq: Ritual Music to Cure a Lover, on stage December 5th to 8th, 2018.
Set in "a vacuity of a place and time" on the shores of the Persian Gulf, Asheq is the engrossing story of forbidden love, a family divided by long-held secrets and a community torn between stifling traditions and modern freedom.
The production blends music, projection and live storytelling to tell the captivating tale of a father's life and death battle with himself and his son. The play culminates in music and movement, as the son is forced into a ritual zar/exorcism ceremony to rid him of a "sickness" --- his love for an outcast woman.
Asheq was developed under the leadership of Artistic Director Shahin Sayadi and recently debuted in Halifax at the Prismatic Arts Festival. In the play, Sayadi, brings to life a multitude of characters, their loves and their struggles, their births and deaths, all laid bare on stage in a time-bending, perspective-shifting tale that takes audiences inside the inner struggles of characters and the inevitable clashes in the family and community.
Onelight's Shahin Sayadi says: "Asheq: Ritual Music to Cure a Lover brings several love stories to the stage - there is young love, passionate love, parental love, and spiritual love. These love stories inevitably lead to conflicts - relationships shift, twist, and are ultimately torn apart. Making this play took me on both a physical journey to my birthplace, the Persian Gulf, and an artistic journey of seeing the story from multiple perspectives and finding ways to bring these experiences to the stage."
To authentically situate the play on the Persian Gulf coast, Onelight Theatre commissioned internationally-renowned musicians Habib Meftahboushehri (Iran/France) and Mohsen Sharifian (Iran), with the additional contribution of Toronto-based composer Sina Bathaie, to bring to life the rich and eclectic music of Southern Iran. Shahin Sayadi also travelled to Iran to film pivotal scenes that are interjected into the production through projections.
Having travelled the world to develop this work, Sayadi and his Onelight Theatre team are thrilled to be back in Toronto to bring its newest work to local audiences. Asheq: Ritual Music to Cure a Lover is on stage at Harbourfront Centre Theatre, December 5th to 8th, 2018, presented in association with Harbourfront Centre.
The Play: Asheq: Ritual Music to Cure a Lover
A forbidden love. A family divided by long-held secrets. A community blinded by tradition.
ASHEQ: RITUAL MUSIC TO CURE A LOVER is set on the shores of the Persian Gulf where fishing for pearls and praying to the Sun Goddess, Mitra for protection have been central to village life for as long as anyone can remember. Here the past, present, and future intertwine to produce a culture and community that is both familiar and surreal. We meet Farhad a widower and father to a son, Manoo. Tensions rise when Manoo falls in love with an outcast woman, defying his father and village - he must be under the influence of evil spirits. To restore order, the village elders call for an exorcism: ritual music to cure the lover.
Though set in Iran, Asheq draws on the dynamics of communities and families that exist around the world: how they want to help you grow, but also hold you back, and how beliefs that liberate one generation can imprison the next. Asheq explores the dark side of family relations, but is, ultimately, a story of the triumph of hope.
Written, designed, directed and performed by Shahin Sayadi (Artistic Director of Onelight Theatre) with technical direction and lighting design by Mike Mader and the Onelight Theatre team, stage management and assistant technical direction by Raeesa Lalani, and original music developed by Habib Meftahboushehri and Mohsen Sharifian, with additional music by Toronto's Sina Bathaie.
The Company: Onelight Theatre
Founded by Artistic Director Shahin Sayadi, Onelight has ties to Halifax and Toronto and engages in creative work around the world. The company develops and produces new works, tours its productions nationally and internationally, and presents the works of artists from across Canada. Onelight is known not only for the compelling stories that it brings to the stage, but also for being at the forefront of innovative use of stage technology, digital projection, and sound and lighting design.
Past Onelight Theatre productions of note include The Veil and Chess with the Doomsday Machine. The company also founded the Prismatic Arts Festival - now a separate arts organization - which presents the work of Canada's leading Indigenous and culturally diverse artists. Onelight Theatre continues to co-presents the work of other theatre companies, readings of new plays and plays in development at the annual Prismatic Arts Festival.
Onelight supports the work of emerging theatre artists through the Firestarter mentoring program, which supports young professionals and theatre graduates through invaluable apprenticeships. This program gives a chance for upcoming artists who want to produce their own productions or found their own company to have an opportunity to work with Onelight's team.
ASHEQ: RITUAL MUSIC TO CURE A LOVER is being presented at Harbourfront Centre Theatre.
Show Information for "Asheq: Ritual Music to Cure a Lover"
Performance Dates:
Wednesday December 5th 8:00 pm
Thursday December 6th. 8:00 pm
Friday December 7th. 8:00 pm
Saturday December 8th 4:00 pm Matinee
Saturday December 8th. 7:00 pm
Venue:
Harbourfront Centre Theatre
231 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON M5J 2G8, Canada
Tickets:
$24.50 (regular)
$18.75 (arts worker / student / senior)
$18.75 (Saturday matinée - all tickets)
Buy Tickets:
https://my.harbourfrontcentre.com/single/PSDetail.aspx?psn=33449
Running time:
60 minutes I Suitable for teenagers and adults
Website: www.onelighttheatre.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/onelighttheatre/
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2002839806674746/
Instagram: @onelighttheatre
Twitter: @onelighttheatre
Photo: Shahin Sayadi.
2018-10-19
Toronto: Onelight Theatre presents "Asheq: Ritual Music to Cure a Lover" December 5-8