tg STAN makes another foray into the oeuvre of the Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhad. In the spring of 2023 tg STAN will be working on a play of the same name with a group of eleven actors, in which different generations and nationalities are represented – Iraqis, Iranians, Dutch, Belgians, and Afghans. The play explores doubt, friendship, honour and betrayal.
“I believe that the similarities among the human beings on this earth and its various lands, and among its cultures and its faiths, far outweigh their differences.” (Asghar Farhadi)
Following on from A Separation (2020), tg STAN makes another foray into the oeuvre of the Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, this time with what film enthusiasts regard as his best film: About Elly. In the spring of 2023 tg STAN will be working on a play of the same name with a group of eleven actors, in which different generations and nationalities are represented – Iraqis, Iranians, Dutch, Belgians, and Afghans. The play explores doubt, friendship, honour and betrayal.
The story unfolds beside the Caspian Sea, where a group of friends is spending a weekend with their children. Among the guests are Elly, the teacher of Sepideh’s young child, and the recently divorced Ahmad, who has only been back from Germany for a few days. Sepideh tries to pair them off. The atmosphere is exuberant. There are lively discussions, they eat, sing, laugh and dance… Until Elly suddenly disappears and the mood takes a turn. We witness an exhaustive search into which is woven a web of lies and half-truths. And then, out of the blue, Elly’s fiancé turns up…
We see a group of people wrestling with their morals as the carefree makes way for drama. The solidarity crumbles and individual interests come to the fore.
Will one individual dare to betray another if that is the way to protect the group? Which truth is true and for whom? And is the truth really so relevant? Or can a lie be their salvation?
Following on from A Separation (2020), tg STAN makes another foray into the oeuvre of the Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, this time with what film enthusiasts regard as his best film: About Elly. In the spring of 2023 tg STAN will be working on a play of the same name with a group of eleven actors, in which different generations and nationalities are represented – Iraqis, Iranians, Dutch, Belgians, and Afghans. The play explores doubt, friendship, honour and betrayal.
The story unfolds beside the Caspian Sea, where a group of friends is spending a weekend with their children. Among the guests are Elly, the teacher of Sepideh’s young child, and the recently divorced Ahmad, who has only been back from Germany for a few days. Sepideh tries to pair them off. The atmosphere is exuberant. There are lively discussions, they eat, sing, laugh and dance… Until Elly suddenly disappears and the mood takes a turn. We witness an exhaustive search into which is woven a web of lies and half-truths. And then, out of the blue, Elly’s fiancé turns up…
We see a group of people wrestling with their morals as the carefree makes way for drama. The solidarity crumbles and individual interests come to the fore.
Will one individual dare to betray another if that is the way to protect the group? Which truth is true and for whom? And is the truth really so relevant? Or can a lie be their salvation?
Credits
by and with
- Kes Bakker
- Robby Cleiren
- Jolente De Keersmaeker
- Lukas de Wolf
- Anna Franziska Jäger
- Manizja Kouhestani
- Armin Mola
- Mokhallad Rasem
- Haider Al Timimi
- Scarlet Tummers
- Stijn Van Opstal
concept
- Jolente De Keersmaeker
- Scarlet Tummers
set
- Joé Agemans
- Damiaan De Schrijver
- Stijn Van Opstal
light
- Luc Schaltin
costumes
- Fauve Ryckebusch
production
- tg STAN
coproduction
- Toneelhuis
- de Roovers
- Theater Antigone
