(Photo courtesy/Motuso)

By Ben Tompkins

Prisoner of Tehran

Story of oppression, persecution, survival and hope, travelling throughout the northeast

Mar 22, 2023 | 1:53 PM

Prisoner of Tehran is a story about Marina Nemat, who when she was only 16 years old back in 1982, was arrested on false charges by Iranian Revolutionary Guards and tortured in Tehran’s Evin prison.

At a time when most Western teenage girls were choosing their prom dresses, Nemat was having her feet beaten by men with cables and listening to gunshots as her friends were being executed.

She survived because one of the guards fell in love with her and threatened to harm her family if she refused to marry him.

Soon after her forced conversion to Islam and marriage, her husband was assassinated by rival factions.

Nemat was returned to prison but it was her captor’s family who eventually secured her release.

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She came to Canada in 1991 and has called it home ever since.

And during the last 32 years, her story has turned into a book (one Nermat herself wrote), as well as a play under the same name, which she used to star in.

That play has been touring all across the country, courtesy of Motus O, and will be in the northeast as soon as Friday.

At 7:30 p.m. on March 24, in the Maurice Taylor Performing Arts Theatre in the Tisdale RECplex, the theatre, video, and storytelling piece will take place.

Cynthia Croker is the director and actress for the Prisoner of Tehran play and is the one who originally approached Nermat about the idea.

Croker explained the ability to share Nermat’s story is important to her, as she views it as a way to keep the general public aware of their surroundings.

“Just writing it sort of really helped for her own (Marina’s) mental health, and then she really began to see how important it was to tell the story,” Croker explained. “So that things like this really don’t happen again, and that we have to be aware of what’s going on in our government. Her message now is that we can be aware and inform citizens of what’s going on in our own countries.”

The play surrounds Nermat (now played by Croker) with four dancers who either morph into different things she’s talking about in the story, the emotions that she’s feeling, or the characters in the story she’s talking about.

And for Croker who gets to play Nermat, she added it’s been an experience filled with honour, one she hopes everyone can take with them.

“She’s an incredibly courageous woman, and just taking that role on, one I never thought I would be playing, it’s very unique,” Croker said.

“Her story is incredibly inspiring, so it doesn’t matter what’s going on in your own life, just to be inspired by a fellow human being who has really conquered extreme adversity, even though it’s a very dire story, you leave very hopeful and very inspired, so really, it’s a story for everyone.”

Tickets are $20 for the Tisdale show and can be purchased at Northeast Appliance Plus.

The show is also making a stop in La Ronge on Thursday (March 23), before showing at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre in Prince Albert on Sunday (March 26) and the Watrous Civic Centre on Monday (March 27).

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On Twitter @BenTompkins_8