Often when you watch plays about the Middle East, it’s only about war and conflict, and heartbreak and trauma, and there is not a lot of everyday humanity taking place. That’s why this play is special.”
Lanna Joffrey is discussing Sister Radio, the new play she is starring in with Nalan Burgess as sisters Fatemeh and Shirin, who were forced to leave their Iran home in the ’70s and move to Edinburgh. Despite living together, it has been years since they have spoken to each other but when the pandemic hits and they are locked in their flat, they are forced to confront a betrayal that altered their relationship.
“Sister Radio is a story a lot of people have gone through in forced migration,” continues Joffrey, who, just like her character, was forced to leave Iran when she was younger. “You have to uproot your life, go somewhere safer and create a second home. Some people leave for good, others leave to wait and see.
“That’s why a lot of Iranians emigrated first to Europe, to be nearby. That’s what my family did just before the revolution. We had anticipated there would be violence and danger, so we waited, watched, and when we realised we wouldn’t be able to go back, we made a second home in America, where my uncle had settled.
“That’s what happens in this play. The sisters’ mother passes away, and Fatemeh, my character, is given the task to emigrate to Scotland and study here and create a second home, and then Shirin comes over two years later.”
Written by Sara Shaarawi, a Glasgow playwright originally from Cairo, Sister Radio received its world premiere at the new studio space at Pitlochry Festival Theatre last week and will be going on tour around Scotland.
“The play alternates between 1978-79, when the Iran revolution is happening, and 2020,” Joffrey explains. “The pandemic forced us to reckon with our lives, to look back and realise how we’d come to this point and really figure out what we care about and love. The sisters haven’t been speaking and the pandemic awakens memories. Every family has a story of estrangement, and that’s part of the humanity of these women that is often overlooked when speaking about the Middle East.”
Joffrey has experience in bringing stories of women in situations of war to the stage. Her docudrama, Valiant, toured the US before enjoying rave reviews at 2015’s Fringe. “Valiant is based on a book of interviews with women and their war stories,” she says. “People sometimes don’t listen to the narrative of what women do during times of war – the main narrative is the soldiers and the people making the decisions; they don’t focus on women in these times.
“There are Latvian snipers in the Second World War, flight attendants flying soldiers back and forth to Vietnam, caretakers in a Cambodian refugee camp. We are capable of anything and everything and Valiant gives a broader perspective of what women do in a war. It’s a lot more than what we think.”
The multi-disciplined Joffrey became interested in acting while growing up in the US, and later made the switch to London to study at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
“I’d always been involved in theatre and arts at high school in the States but I initially didn’t think I could make a career of it – in my family we are engineers, real estate developers and doctors, so it was a slow process,” she adds. “I was studying a different major before switching to acting at Syracuse in New York, and then I had 13 years as a professional before coming to London for my Masters nine years ago and realising I could base myself here.
“It’s a dream come true to tour this show all through Scotland and share it with the communities.”
Sister Radio, Studio at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, until September 28
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