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A deeply moving tale of five friends actively trying to hold on to one another amidst the turmoil of the outside world.Summary
Rating
Good
In 2016 director Deniz Gamze Ergüven was asked about her film Mustang, a Turkish movie about five sisters all preparing to be brides. Ergüven replied with, “People’s relationship with fiction and reality and the connection between the two is interesting, and surprising.” The notion of the relationship between fiction and reality is similarly seen in Sanaz Toossi’s play Wish You Were Here, a story of five young female friends living in Iran, and the effect social, political and economic change has on their lives over the course of twelve years.
Wish You Were Here also involves preparations for marriage. The play begins in 1978 with one young woman, Salme (Emily Renée), preparing for her wedding while her other friends help her, all the while joking and laughing with each other. Everything seems dreamy and happy; fiction and reality seem to fuse together as the set gives the sense that everything is safe and well. By the next scene, however, one woman, Rana (Juliette Motamed), has left and now four are together, this time a different woman preparing for her wedding. With one person gone, reality slowly begins to overtake fiction. As the play progresses, the reality of the political, economic and social turmoil of the Iranian Revolution becomes painfully apparent in the lives of the friends.
Within the confines of one room at the Gate Theatre, Wish You Were Here creates feelings of both intimate closeness along with the pain and privilege of distance among the characters. While the size of the stage itself stays the same, at the beginning when the friends are happy and full of enjoyment the set seems larger. It then seems to become smaller and smaller as the stresses of the outside world grow more tumultuous. The single room begins to feel very uncomfortable and claustrophobic as the characters appear in and leave each other’s lives throughout the years, and they are left with memories. In contrast to the beginning, where the future of the women seems bright, as the play progresses their prospects looks dimmer and more uncertain, and this speaks to the fragile vulnerability caused by the Revolution.
Toossi’s script is cleverly crafted: both the dialogue and the form of the relationships between the characters suggest unrest, offering parallels with events happening outside. One character may make a decision which leads to a break from the others. There is no clarity of direction as to where the play is going, yet this makes sense because the characters themselves are unsure about where they are going in their lives. At one point there is a conflict between two of the characters which is difficult to watch. The reality of the fact that the women are both so exhausted, fearful and torn from the outside turmoil, is tangible, making the scene utterly heart-breaking.
Although Wish You Were Here begins in 1978 and ends in 1991, aside from a few pieces of technology the play is timeless. It’s a story which could easily be told twenty years ago yet could be easily told twenty years from now. Thirteen years condensed within 105 minutes is an admirable feat. However, this also makes the production appear rushed overall and it struggles to give due credit to the crucial point in Iran’s history at which it occurs.
Wish You Were Here features content about political turmoil and unrest which may not be suitable for individuals sensitive to such topics. Otherwise, with its astounding acting and sparks of delightful humour, it is well worth watching.
Written by Sanaz Toossi
Directed by Sepy Baggaei
Wish You Were Here plays at Gate Theatre until 23 November. Further information and tickets available here.
