[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Shahin Sayadi discusses Ritual Music to Cure a Lover, his acclaimed solo show at the 2026 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
I was able to see Shahin’s beautiful, powerful and tremendously moving show three years ago in NoHo, and it’s really stayed with me. It’s the story of love. Shahin’s love for Iran and the pain that can naturally bring. And people who find love in unlikely places, often at times when they least expect it. But then love tends to reveal itself when it feels like it, and all we can do is hope to recognise it and hold it close.
Shahin’s elegant and mesmerising performance of this timeless and deeply, tenderly nostalgic story is filled with movement, dance and ritualistic, almost reverential moments of surprise and profundity. It is also sweetly funny, and its allegory is fluid and magical.
About Ritual Music to Cure a Lover
The story is set in a fishing village far from cities and the bustle of a more modern life. A fisherman brings up a son who, although he loves him, can’t bring himself to embrace him, as his beloved wife died giving birth to him. The son spends his entire life trying to please his father, never able to reach him. Things change when a pregnant woman arrives in the small village to make a place for herself and her child, and a son finds what he needs in someone else.
Read my NoHo Arts theatre review of the original 2023 production of Ritual Music to Cure a Lover.
It really was one of the most gorgeous pieces of theatre I have seen and Shahin’s performance as all these wildly different characters is unmissable.
Trying to find a way to encourage Hollywood Fringe audiences to see this incredible piece, I asked Shahin how the story arrived in his life.
Ritual Music to Cure a Lover is a play about Iran, created by a son of Iran. It feels like the ‘lover’ that might need a cure is Iran itself?
Not the land itself is in need of help, but the choices that our fathers have assumed for us to apply for this land.
How has the play changed because of the current war?
None at all. In fact, it has reminded us that Iran will be freed by Iranians, not any outside forces. Outside forces that have supported and empowered the dark forces now occupying my homeland.
Iran will be freed by Iranians, not any outside forces
This play has taken many years to bring to an audience. What drove you to want to tell this story?
It all started as a love story between an accepted member of a society with the wrong person. And it has become my own story and many others, growing with this pain and the struggles that came with the fight.
You are the only actor and you play many parts. Is this technique self imposed and vital to the nature of the piece, or did you imagine it populated by many actors?
I actually started the development with five actors, with me sitting off stage. And yes, you are absolutely right, it had to become a one-person work. Through the development of the piece, I found myself and my powers, what exactly is happening right now with the youth in Iran, relying on one’s own truth.
Iran is often described as one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations. What do you wish Americans understood better about its people and culture?
Believe it or not, Iranians are very much like Americans, especially with their love for freedom and independence. But as an Iranian artist, I have to say, I have not done a good job of talking to the people; we have, for the most part, talked to the controlled media and, worst, the politicians. We Iranians in the US, especially the artists, need to change our perspective and talk to the people. If we open that channel, we will find out that the American society understands very well that all we want is the same as what they want: a safe and free space to live and grow. With this work, I intend to do that: talk to the people about Iran, by way of art and storytelling.
With this work, I intend to do that: talk to the people about Iran, by way of art and storytelling.
This play is a love story told across time through movement, music, and a fascinating range of characters. Does it change over the years? Do you add to it, refine it, or adapt it for different audiences?
You’re absolutely right. As matters change with the situation in Iran, our response to the situation changes. I’m just one of those millions, and my portrayal of these characters changes. It is very interesting the way you asked me this question. As I was rehearsing last week, I realized I’m delivering some of the lines with a different temper, and then I realized that I keep growing with this work.
What would you like an audience to take away from Ritual Music to Cure a Lover?
I hope we can create a conversation about Iran, without the media or the politicians’ filter. People to people. That’s my hope, and I believe I can achieve it.
Please tell us anything else that would interest an audience for your beautiful show.
This a universal story of people claiming their individuality. Yes, it is timely, and Iran is on everyone’s mind these days, but if we clear the noise and dust, and just sit together and listen to each other’s stories, without any preconceived notions, we can live together in peace. Respecting that each of us has a unique truth and it needs to be heard.
Shahin Sayadi’s Ritual Music to Cure a Lover is playing at the Madnani Theatre, and you have to put this extraordinary and exquisite play at the top of your Hollywood Fringe Festival list!!!
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/14131?tab=location
Where:
Mandani Theatre
6760 Lexington Ave, Hollywood, CA 90038
When:
Thursday, June 4 at 7:00 PM
Saturday June 13 at 3:00 PM
Sunday, June 14 at 3:30 PM
Thursday, June 18 at 10:00 PM
Wednesday, June 24 at 7:00 PM
Credit: Source link