RUNNING FOR ONE’S LIFE
Under the vision of Founder and Artistic Director Susan Feldman, St. Ann’s Warehouse – one of the most eclectic and vibrant venues in New York – is now presenting another cutting-edge production, the North American premiere of Iranian writer and director Amir Reza Koohestani’s play Blind Runner, a moving hymn to freedom. Performed in Persian with English supertitles, it flawlessly interweaves the personal and the political, but never in a tedious or overly dramatic way.
We are in Tehran. A husband (Mohammad Reza Hosseinzadeh) visits his wife (Ainaz Azarhoush) in prison where she has been detained as a political prisoner for a few months, and from their conversation we understand how strained their relationship has become. They are only allowed to see each other for a weekly half-hour visit, conscious of being recorded by hidden video cameras, careful not to talk about political subjects (even the gender of a spider can be political), knowing that she has 4 more years, 6 months and 12 days to spend inside that hell. When the husband asks her how are the people inside different from the ones outside, she answers: “We know that false hopes are worse than despair.”
The wife and husband used to run marathons together; now that she is locked up, it has a new meaning, it’s freedom itself. She confesses to be missing this more than anything else: ”Running a long time, with no obstacle / with no wall at the end, with no turning back / without being asked how I feel / without wondering what I’ll do now / without looking at the time, just running.” She convinces her husband to train and run with Parissa, a blind Iranian woman who was shot in the eyes by the police. Parissa wants to compete in a marathon race in Paris, followed by a life-threatening run overnight through the English Channel tunnel. If she wins, they may let her stay in England.
The husband and Parissa have to cope with many limitations to complete the mission, synchronize their breath and steps, run side by side as one, because Koohestani wants to underline that we cannot be free alone; our resilience, our pursuit of freedom must be collective, a lesson to remember in these days and age.
Lights and scenery by Éric Soyer box the two actors in and keep their separation constant, even as they are they are intimately close during the meetings on an open stage, a minimalist style used also by Negar Nobakht Foghani for the costumes, and in the haunting soundtrack by Phillip Hohenwarter and Matthias Peyker. The large video close-ups of the actors by Yasi Moradi and Benjamin Krieg let us explore the inner lives of the characters and their emotional and intellectual conflicts. Azarhoush and Hosseinzadeh both portrayed their characters with passion and precise restraint, dancing flawless duets with their lines, first as husband and wife, and later as the husband and the blind runner.
Blind Runner is a contemplative and evocative performance, subtle, poetic, a unique work which is accompanied at St. Ann’s by Unseen Iran: A Celebration of Iranian Art & Culture, a series of programs highlighting Iranian art and resistance, and a Persian tea room with daily offerings of tea, rugs, and various exhibits. It’s not just a play, it’s a Persian cultural immersion experience with a strong humanist wish, the enduring hope for a better future even when faced with crushing adversity.
photos by Benjamin Krieg
Blind Runner
Mehr Theatre Group, Paris
part of Under the Radar | in partnership with Waterwell
St. Ann’s Warehouse, 45 Water St in Brooklyn (on the waterfront in Brooklyn Bridge Park)
60 minutes, no interval
ends on January 24, 2025
for tickets, visit St. Anne’s Warehouse
