A POWERFUL new play by an Iranian artist reflecting on the oppression of women, non-binary and trans people is coming to Scotland next month.
Drawing on her own experiences both in Iran and the UK, Sara Amini explores what it means to raise your voice, both literally and metaphorically, in the face of oppression.
Presented by the award-winning international company, Seemia Theatre, Saria Callas intertwines fact and fiction to consider how state control over people’s bodies manifests across cultures and borders, from Tehran to Warsaw, Paris to London and the world over.
Growing up in Tehran, Amini dreamed of becoming a singer but women have been banned from singing in public in Iran since the 1979 revolution.
Now, as she raises a child in the UK who is questioning their gender identity, she finds herself navigating new kinds of social pressure and unspoken fears as a parent.
In the play, Amini reminisces about her experiences of going from childhood to womanhood as she stands at a crossroads with her child. She questions how a woman who has experienced first-hand repression of her body and voice should react as her child struggles with their own identity and whether someone who has fought for their own rights can then stand in the way of someone else’s freedom.
Highlighting an often-unheard perspective of the supportive parent, intertwined with her own personal challenges, she asks what it means to raise your voice when history has taught you to be silent.
While rooted in the Iranian context, Saria Callas also confronts the wider global erosion of women’s rights.
In one powerful sequence, Amini faces an unwanted pregnancy while living in Poland, where access to abortion is severely restricted, and is forced to cross borders to seek basic healthcare.
The production arrives in Glasgow at a time when women’s voices are increasingly under threat worldwide.
In Afghanistan, for example, female artists have been banned from singing since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. In Iran, many women now risk arrest by sharing singing videos online, often in defiance of both the ban on solo female vocalists and the country’s mandatory hijab laws.
At a time when society also appears obsessed with vilifying trans people, Saria Callas tries to unpack the reality behind suppression and becoming the oppressor.
Developed in collaboration with fellow Iranian and international artists, Saria Callas is both a love letter to music and a reckoning with what’s passed between mother and child, offering a rare platform for voices often excluded from mainstream narratives.
Through the lens of one woman’s story, the play invites audiences to consider what it means to resist – through art, through parenting, and through simply being yourself.
The play is written, performed and co-directed by Amini, a classically trained singer and artistic director of Seemia Theatre.
Saria Callas is at Òran Mór’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint in Glasgow from May 26-31, after a London run at Camden People’s Theatre
