TEHRAN-The play “Rabbit” written by the English playwright Nina Raine will be staged at the City Theater in Tehran from April 10.

Mehdi Nasiri has directed the play that has Fariba Aminian, Reza Joshani, Saeid Mohebbi, Negin Tayyebi, Parsa Farjadmanesh, and Taraneh Kouhestani in the cast, Honaronline reported.

Originally published in 2006, “Rabbit” is a shocking, raucous, and coruscating drama that marked the debut of a major voice in British theater.

The 75-minute play takes place in a trendy bar, where Bella, 29, is celebrating her birthday with her friends. Intercut with their bantering conversation about jobs and men versus women are edgy scenes between Bella and her father, with whom she has a classically difficult relationship. 

Raine's sparky first play is about trying to recover love, memories, and the time when you thought you were invincible. Most of all, this is a play about the happiness we take for granted when we are young and which, as we grow older, often eludes us, making us crabby and envious.

Moreover, the play looks at the effects of feminism and post-feminism on the self-image of women. It asks women of the current generation: Are we moving forward with the gains our mothers fought for, or is there a backlash? 

It’s a play about gender politics in a world where nobody’s sure how to move forward anymore. Men used to make all the choices, and now the women are making the choices too, but that isn’t necessarily making them happy.

Nina Raine, 49, is both a playwright and a theater director. Having earned a first-class degree in English literature at Oxford, she began her theatrical career as a trainee director at the Royal Court Theater.

Her first play, “Rabbit,” which she also directed, premiered at the Old Red Lion theatre in 2006 before transferring to Trafalgar Studios that year, and to New York in 2007, winning her two awards as Most Promising Playwright. She has since written four more plays.

“Rabbit” will remain on stage through May 4 at the City Theater, located at the Daneshjoo Park, at the junction of Vali-e Asr and Enghelab streets.

SS/