Michael Cox speaks with the director and writer of A Play, a Pie and a Pint's latest play, One Night in Iran.
Lu Kemp is the director of One Night in Iran.
Michael Cox: First, tell me a bit about the play and what attracted you as a director to the project?
Lu Kemp: It's a two hander, real time drama which means it's all about the emotional dynamics between the two characters and the tension of that relationship. That's a very exciting thing to play, to take an audience on a journey in such a simple context.
I love Oliver Emanuel's writing, he is very precise - the rhythm and clarity of his work is beautiful. We have a strong collaborative relationship, we've worked on a couple of radio plays together and are currently working on a new translation of a Belgian play Titus by Jan Sobrie, supported by the Playwright's Studio Scotland. We'll be going out to Ghent to workshop with young people and the writer in a few weeks time.
MC: Is this your first time at Oran Mor?
LK: Yes, it's my first time at the Oran Mor. It's different in that you're playing in a space which isn't created specfically for theatre, so you have to find solutions to that. What's joyful about it is the audiences. Whenever I've been the Oran Mor I've been really excited by how warm and up for it the audiences are. They're interested in variety and seem to come without set expectations. It's a very open and engaged audience.
MC: The play is set in Iran. Did you know much about Iran and its politics and way of life? Did you perhaps need to do a bit of research, either by reading and watching anything or speaking with people?
LK: I'm a research freak. I see every project as an opportunity to find out about something I don't know about, so I've watched a whole series of films, talked to Iranians and Iranian academics, listened to documentaries (Wrestling in Iran!), news reports, read books. However, when it comes to the play, I think you have to consume all that research and then to a degree put it away. The drama is about what happens in that space, in that moment. The two characters on stage aren't thinking about the context they're living within, they're thinking about here and now.
MC: Were there any surprises during the rehearsal process: things in the script that have jumped out, characters that have surprised you, something you hadn’t anticipated, etc?
LK: Yes. The discovery - or being reminded of - how ugly we are in relationships sometimes. That we show the people we love the most the worst parts of ourselves.
Oliver Emanuel is the playwright.
MC: Tell me a bit about the play: where the idea came from and what happens.
Oliver Emanuel: In 2006, I read an article by an anonymous Iranian woman in The Guardian newspaper. It was a story about her love for an Iranian man and their affair over ten years that took place in complete secrecy. To be unmarried and have a relationship with a man who is not a relation is illegal. You can be beaten, imprisoned or, in some extreme cases, beheaded. And yet there were many things about the relationship that we, in the west, would recognise. That first meeting. Flirtation. A rising passion that doesn't recognise others and can strike down anything or everything in its way. Basic, human love. I was immediately struck by the story, cut it out and kept it in a file marked 'Ideas'. I knew it was a play but back then I didn't know what it would be. Last year, I remembered it and thought it would be the right time to write it.
I imagined a relationship between a married Iranian man and an unmarried Iranian woman. They have been in love for five years. They have never been alone together, never kissed and certainly never had sex. But somehow they have managed to find one night together in a hotel on the edge of Tehran. The play is set in the hotel room and is a real-time drama about that meeting. I'm not saying anymore. It should be a surprise!
MC: Why Iran? Do you have an interest in Iranian politics, culture and/or society?
OE: I knew very little about Iran before I started writing this play. What appealed to me about the story was the human drama, not the wider political situation. What is it like to love someone and be denied the expression of that love? This is the question I asked myself and is the main thrust of the drama. I read books, watched films and spoke to people who were either from Iran or had relatives their. As I said, my questions were less about the politics of Iran and more about the everyday lives of the people living there. I'm not directly interested in the politics of Iran or the problems of the regime there. It is an essential ingredient for my characters but it is all seen through the prism of the central relationship. Put it another way, I don't think that when two people meet in a hotel their first thought is the political context! It's each other and the feel and the breath of the person that is exciting.
MC: Every writer takes a journey when they write something. Can you perhaps speak to me a bit about the journey you took with this piece?
OE: I hated writing this play. No, I did. It was a real bastard. I had thought about it for five years and now the pressure was on. I wrote a first draft quite quickly. I like to write quickly, less time to think and over-write. It also means that the characters have the energy of real life. I love writing first drafts. I know most writers hate them but it's my favourite bit by miles. I love making stuff up and playing. But this one really pushed me around and wouldn't come quietly. So I wrote a second draft. And a third. And a fourth. And a fifth and a sixth and finally a seventh. Seven drafts may not sound like much. I'm not digging for coal, remember. But I usually get my plays done in three and this was a short one too! Hopefully, of course, the audience won't know this. That's the trick. I always aim for my work to arrive as if it were just happening in front of you for the first time.
I'm really happy with it now and feel proud that I managed to scrape it from the back of my brain. Lu Kemp is one of my favourite directors to work with, she's incredibly precise yet also generous with her ideas. She always looks to the text for answers and includes everyone in her thinking. There were times I was ready to give up on this play but Lu was always there with a clever note or a word of encouragement. I couldn't have written it without her so she should take much of the credit.
One Night in Iran performs at Oran Mor from March 21-26.
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