Pourama pourama

Born in Iran, Gurshad Shaheman’s tale unfolds as an intense coming-of-age story, like travelling through treacherous rapids. To make the journey with him is to endorse his father’s mask, enjoy his mother’s cooking, hold him in your arms, embrace the gift of his stories and his secrets, become an accomplice in a presentation by an incandescent performer. The journey, storm-tossed and captivating, will of course leave its mark.

Touch Me, Taste Me, Trade Me. In three solo shows that include a meal shared with the audience, Gurshad Shaheman recounts an Iranian childhood distinguished by a taciturn father, an adolescence in exile nourished by a courageous mother, a youth troubled by the discovery of desire. Tearing down barriers, dispensing with propriety, this charismatic man of the theatre discovers, between East and West, a very special relationship to the body. With luminous prose and powerful imagery, he gives free rein to his passions.

Produced by Festival Les Rencontres à l’échelle – Les Bancs Publics (Marseille)
Text, Concept and Performance Gurshad Shaheman
Dramaturgical Advisor Youness Anzane
Set Design Mathieu Lorry-Dupuy
Lighting Design and Technical Director Aline Jobert
Sound Design Lucien Gaudion
Video Design and Operation Jérémy Meysen
Sound Manager Jérémy Meysen
Assistant Director (for Trade Me) Anne-Sophie Popon
Movement Coach Ollivier Muller
Set Design Assistant Julien Archieri + Ava Rastegar

Co-produced by Pôle des arts de la Scène – Friche la Belle de Mai (Marseille) + La Ferme du Buisson – Scène Nationale de Marne-la-Vallée
Writing residency Les Bazis (Sainte-Croix Volvestre)

Presented with the support of Institut Français (Paris) + Service de coopération et d’action culturelle du Consulat général de France à Québec in association with Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui

Acknowledgement to Festival ZOA (Paris) + Sabrina Feldman
Premiered at Festival Les Rencontres à l’échelle, Marseille, on November 26, 2015

Gurshad Shaheman is an associate artist at the CDN Normandie-Rouen and a guest artist by Le Phénix -Scène nationale de Valenciennes, part of the Campus of the European Creative Hub.