Kazem Shahryari

The Colours of Women

The summer

Translated by:: Gabriella Pásztor

Kazem Shahryari, a French writer of Kurdish origin, wrote his play "The Colours of Women" in 2006, which was first performed in March 2007 at the Jean Vilar Theatre in Vitry-sur-Seine, France, under the author's direction. The play was inspired by a year-long series of conversations Shahryari had with women from various professions and social backgrounds living in European countries.

The kaleidoscopic performance takes place in a peculiar space. After a fire closes the highway in both directions, two young girls, Lola and Elsa, set off without crossing paths to find a place where they can make a phone call. They arrive at a no-man's-land, where they find a café and an old telephone.

This space is also the space of their questions, about their own lives, their freedom, their bonds, and the possibilities and impossibilities of the decisions they can make about the lives they have conceived within themselves.

They both meet the strange owner of the café, Zek, who, from the blurred horizon of past and present, reveals to them their doubts, the spirit of rebellion and constant destruction, while Zek's mother, France, offers them water as the primordial element of life.

This strange location also evokes conversations with their lovers, the stories of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who have been searching for their path amid historical constraints and social norms, bringing them closer to the connections in which the two girls' parallel and mirrored awakening takes place.

 

Synopsis translated by: Vivien-Tamara Sárközi.

Cast of characters:

Premier: 2007.11.18