Maria(m)

Throughout history, women have often been excluded from interpreting religious texts and narratives. But can religious texts be seen from a humanistic and feminist perspective and promote equality and dialogue across religious divides? These are some of the questions the performer tries to explore through narratives about the figure of Mary.

Maria(m) is based on the figure of Mary as told in the Quran and Islamic tradition. Here, the audience gets an insight into this story from a different perspective through storytelling artist Mehda Zolfaqari and her interpretation. At the same time, she weaves in her personal stories about, among other things, childhood in Iran, revolution, war, escape and growing up in Norway. Here we meet both right-wing populists, the conservatives in the Oslo mosques, Karl i Hagen's girls' group in hijab and a banned disco bus in Tehran.

With her on stage is the outstanding Syrian musician Nawar Alndaffad, who plays the oud and ney instruments, and sings in Persian, Arabic and Aramaic, the language of Jesus. This was the dominant language in the Middle East before Arabic took over. Today, Aramaic is spoken only in a few villages in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

The performance addresses themes such as identity, outsider status, religion, gender and equality and is well suited for anyone who is interested in multicultural Norway or wants a nice cultural experience.

The play was produced by Kilden Theatre in spring 2022.