Death by Heroine
by Mehrdad Seyf
February 1998
Riverside Studios
Black and white movies, love rebellion. Tehran in 1951, a cosmopolitan city on the brink of change. Two couples, Mammad and Minou, Parviz and Lily struggle to preserve their love in turbulent times.
An Anglo-Iranian collaboration to tell the story of an Anglo-Iranian crisis.
A tragic thriller set during the Mossadegh era (1951-1953), Death by Heroine explores the lives of two couples caught amongst the political instability of Iran’s first democratically elected government and the subsequent Coup D’etat. We follow their love as it flourishes amongst riots and finds comfort in black and white movies. But real life events soon overtake those of the silver screen.
“An epic love affair, enriched by innovative cinematic staging” Time Out
Credits
Cast
Minou Claire Summerfield
Nima/Parviz Christopher Chaplin
Mitra Cathy Ryan
Lily Louisa Spicer
Mammad Andrew Pullan
Little Nima Peter Vrahimis and Michael Stylianou
Voice Overs Julian Littman
Written and directed by Mehrdad Seyf
Design Leslie Travers
Lighting Design Victoria Harvey
Music composed by Mehrdad Seyf
Production Manager Emma Grant
Construction Sam Roelandts
Costumier Anne Cowan
Stage Manager Emma Jones-Lloyd
Deputy Stage Manager Julia Reid
Assistant Stage Manager Dominic Leary
Press
“30 Bird Productions has unearthed a short and fascinating piece of Iranian history for its second play…The Company is one to watch”
Andrew Aldridge, The Stage, 1998
“It’s an earnest and worthwhile endeavour, leavened by an epic love affair and enriched by innovative cinematic staging. At first Leslie Travers’s clean and clever set design, a wide, diminishing series of gauze boxes, seems unnecessarily distracting. But as they slide noiselessly into different configurations throughout the show, these screen’s enhance the sense of individual lives trapped by events beyond their control, in a country caught up in a cold war Middle-Eastern brinkmanship…A brave and thought provoking piece of political theatre on an interesting and underexposed subject”
Charles Godfery-Fausett, Time Out, 1998
“For Westerners, to whom Iran means little more these days than fundamentalism and fatwas, the society Seyf presents is an unexpected one: secular, internationally aware, cosmopolitan. For modern Londoners, Seyf’s dialogue and distinctive visual style are immediately accessible…Culminating in a stirring final scene in which Minou aids the suicide of her tortured husband, the play is a tribute to those who survived Iran’s era of revolt as much as an elegy to those who died under it….An elegant account of a little known piece of history, Death by Heroine deserves attention.”
Robert Lloyd Parry, What’s On, 1998