The Iranian Conference

“The Iranian Conference”, a performance about communication and understanding

Why Iran? Because Iran is a state of mind. Or a metaphor about freedom or the lack of it. About where personal choices begin and end. Or life, culture, love, or God.

In a conference, ten representatives of “Western thinking” discuss the delicate situation of a “spiritual” East that nevertheless lacks any type of tolerance. Between discourse acrobatics and confessions on the extreme experience of evil, ten characters jump into the madness of contemporary world, erasing the borders between truth and ignorance, faith and science, Europe and Asia.

The show signed by Bobi Pricop touches on many open wounds and extends an invitation to a sharp, problematic, and symptomatic confrontation with the reality that defies the law of proximity. ‘This play shows us ways to live in a world of values, cultures, and faiths other than our own. Ways to become more aware of everything inside and outside us. Vyrypaev revisits a theme that is fundamental to him – communication or rather the lack of it. Political or family crises, wars, conflicts of all kinds, ethical dilemmas all start from misunderstandings, from communication issues.

So, in “The Iranian Conference”, he starts an open conversation about our particular personal experiences, about the spiritual journeys of each and every one of us, as well as about how they interlace with the bigger picture. I think it is important for us to educate ourselves with regard to the different ways of life and of thought, of being on this planet. And at the same time, to open our minds to Vyrypaev’s proposal to try to find methods to communicate with others through freedom, tolerance, and acceptance.’ – Bobi Pricop