S6 Ep1: Amir Gudarzi talks to Omar Elerian

The following content may contain strong language.

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This conversation has been transcribed and can be accessed here: https://royalcourttheatre.com/podcasts/playwrights-podcast-transcript-of-series-6-episode-1-amir-gudarzi-talks-to-omar-elerian/

Full introduction by Omar Elerian:

Hi my name is Omar Elerian and I’m a freelance theatre maker & director of Italian Palestinian heritage based in Milan. For many years I’ve had the privilege of working in many different countries including the UK, where I worked for seven years as Associate Director at London’s Bush theatre. I work mainly on new plays and new work created by emerging & diverse artists, which is why I’m excited to host this series of conversations with international playwrights for the Royal Court. 

The International Playwrights’ Programme at the Royal Court builds and develops the theatre’s relationships with writers from around the world. Forming long-term partnerships with theatre makers and organisations from different traditions, working in different languages and cultural contexts. They do this through long-term writers’ groups, residencies, exchange projects and productions of work by international artists. The Programme also seeks to support the practice of theatre in translation through working with translators at different stages of their career. 

All of the writers featured in this series have engaged with the Programme in different ways across the last 18 months.  

I hope you will enjoy listening & discovering the work of these extraordinary artists who come from the broadest range of backgrounds and approaches, in a testament to our unflinching need to connect with one another, and expand our experience of what theatre is & can be from different vantage points. 

It is my pleasure to introduce you to the first writer of our series of podcasts. 

Amir Gudarzi is a writer born in Tehran, Iran, in 1986. He graduated at the only school for theatre the country had at that time. Due to censorship his plays were only shown in private circles. And since 2009, Amir has lived in involuntary exile in Vienna, Austria. In 2017, he won the exil-DramatikerInnenpreis for his play ‘Between Us and Them Lies…’ In 2018, his play ‘Arash, the Returnee’ premiered under the title ‘Arash//Heimkehrer’ in Vienna and his play ‘The Knowledge Tree’ was shown in Jerusalem. In 2019, his play ‘The Assassin’s Castle’ was invited to the Berlin Stückemarkt, and in 2020 the play ‘Jelly Man – The Future in between my Fingers’ premiered in Vienna. In 2022 his play ‘Wonderwomb’ won the Kleist Prize for playwriting. Amir now lives in Vienna and is working on his debut novel.