He can always say it was for the love of the prophet

A true dramatic oratorio, He can always say it was for the love of the prophet brings together in a performative way the words of exiles and young actors, and electro-acoustic composition. After interviewing people fleeing their country for personal or political reasons, to escape war or intolerance, French-Iranian director Gurshad Shaheman created, with sound designer Lucien Gaudion, a unique scenic work. Fourteen actors share a word that moves through the room, rejecting all idea of realistic direction. This sharing of stories, of fragments of lives, turns the room into a maze of sound. The audience watches as presence becomes expression, as every gesture, no matter how tiny, becomes essential to welcome those lives, those passages trapped between violence and love, between tortured bodies and beloved bodies. With this new show, Gurshad Shaheman continues to defend art as perception and testimony, in which theatre is a full sensory experience.

Gurshad Shaheman
After graduating from the École régionale d'acteurs in Cannes and Marseille, Gurshad Shaheman worked as an actor, assistant director, and Persian translator. In 2012 he created the first part of his Pourama Pourama trilogy (Touch Me, Taste Me, and Trade Me), which established his performative writing, a celebration of the senses with onstage presence at its heart. Gurshad Shaheman recently appeared as Hermione in Andromaque, directed by Damien Chardonnet-Darmaillacq, and in AK47, directed by Pierre Maurin and based on the novel by Olivier Rohe. Gurshad Shaheman is associate artist at CDN Normandy-Rouen and artist accompanied by the national scene Phoenix of Valenciennes as part of the Campus of the European Creative Pole

With Tiebeu Marc-Henry Brissy Ghadout , Flora Chéreau, Sophie Claret, Samuel Diot, Léa Douziech, Juliette Evenard, Ana Maria Haddad Zavadinack, Thibaut Kuttler, Tamara Lipszyc, Nans Merieux, Eve Pereur, Robin Redjadj, Lucas Sanchez, Antonin Totot
And Lawrence Alatrash, Daas Alkhatib, Mohamad Almarashli et Elliott Glitterz

Text and conception Gurshad Shaheman
Dramaturgiy Youness Anzane
Sound Lucien Gaudion
Scenography Mathieu Lorry Dupuy
Lights Aline Jobert
Assistant direction Thomas Rousselot
Collecte de paroles Amer Ghaddar

Production Festival Les Rencontres à l'échelle
Les Bancs Publics (Marseille)
Coproduction Centre dramatique national de Normandie-Rouen, Pôle Arts de la Scène - Friche la Belle de Mai, Festival d'Avignon, Campus décentralisé Amiens-Valenciennes (pôles européens de création le phénix scène nationale Valenciennes et la Maison de la Culture d'Amiens), CCAM Scène nationale de Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, Festival Passages et Théâtre de Liège dans le cadre du réseau Bérénice soutenu par le programme Interreg V Grande Région, École régionale d'acteurs de Cannes-Marseille
With the support of la Villa Médicis Hors les Murs - Institut français, La chambre d'eau (Le Favril)
In partnership with France Médias Monde

Thanks to Joe et Helen Lebanon (Beyrouth), Marina Galanouand the Greek Transgender Support Association (Athènes)