Zendeh

An explosive political and sensual love story told between Iran, Syria and the UK. Zendeh’s latest production, Heart is an explosive political and sensual love story told through a dynamic cocktail of physical theatre and performance poetry.

Inspired by the tragic love poem Leili and Majnoun by Nezami, Heart is set in 1953 and takes place between Durham and Tehran. It exposes love and betrayal both in a personal and international level.

Heart takes place against the backdrop of the 28 Mordad coup d’etat, which took place over four days in Tehran in August 1953. Whilst it appeared on the Pathe film reels at the time to be an internal uprising, the coup was in fact a military operation orchestrated by British and American Governments; paid for in pounds and dollars to protect British and American oil interests. It is through the intense interplay of personal possession and political betrayal that HEART brings to these events to a modern audience; an audience who are still confronting questions of Britain’s role in the Middle East.