Overview

We are going on the road! While we are in-between venues, The Other Room are collaborating with Grand Ambition, Swansea on 'Baba Joon', by Lisa Zahra.


“First time I spoke to someone in Swansea’s, I thought they 
were singing to me.”
 
From sitting in her Baba’s Merc after school, prayer beads dangling and Julio Iglesias playing too loud on the radio, to Iranian breads and pickles in a Cardiff flat smelling of rose water, a Swansea-born daughter longs to visit her father’s country. Will that freedom ever come?
 
Incorporating witty and poetic spoken word, physical movement and a soundtrack that fuses 90’s dance and traditional Iranian music, Baba Joon (Father Dear) is an evocative portrayal of one man’s experiences of arriving in Wales from Iran in the 1970s and his daughter's navigation through the joys and complexities of being from a mixed heritage family living in South Wales.
 
Where are we from? Where do we belong? Where’s home?

 
Swansea-born writer and performer Lisa Zahra has an Iranian Dad and a Welsh Mum. Baba Joon is her first play and was originally developed through the Royal Court Writers Programme 2021 and commissioned through The Other Room’s 3 Phase Participation Project 2022 funded by Bad Wolf, Arts and Business Cymru and The Carne Trust.

The California visit is partially funded by a College of Humanities and the Arts' Artistic Excellence Programming Grant and the Department of Film, Theatre, and Dance at San José State University.

The Other Room in co-production with Grand Ambition presents 

Baba Joon

Tue 17 – Sat 21 October, 7.45pm

(previews Tue 17 and Wed 18 October)

Fri 20 & Sat 21 October, 2.30pm 


Performed at Swansea Grand Theatre

Tickets – www.swanseagrand.co.uk/babajoon

Cast & Creatives

Writer Performer

Lisa Zahra

Director 

Izzy Rabey

Set and Costume Designer

Cara Evans

Lighting Designer

Grace Priest

Sound Designers & Composers

Roshi Nasehi & Emma Daman Thomas

Stage Manager

Philipa Mannion

Assistant Stage Manager

Amy Ashwell

Assistant Director

Nadia Nur

Movement Director

Gemma Prangle

Producer

Jafar Iqbal

 
 

THE OTHER ROOM TEAM

Dan Jones (Artistic Director)

Samantha Alice Jones (Community Director)

Alice Baynham (Head of Audiences)

 

 Baba Joon is presented by The Other Room, in co-production with Grand Ambition.

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GRAND AMBITION TEAM

Richard Mylan

Michelle McTernan

Steve Balsamo

Christian Patterson

Supported by

Gwneir y cynhyrchiad hwn yn bosibl trwy gefnogaeth hael gan y canlynol: Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, Sefydliad Esmée Fairbairn, Bad Wolf TV Studios, Arts & Business Cymru ac Ymddiriedolaeth Carne.
This production is made possible by the generous support of the Arts Council of Wales, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Bad Wolf TV Studios, Arts & Business Cymru, and The Carne Trust.
The California visit is partially funded by a College of Humanities and the Arts' Artistic Excellence Programming Grant and the Department of Film, Theatre, and Dance at San José State University.

Tickets

Tickets

 

Access

Running Time

Approx. 60 minutes

 

Closed Captioning Performances

Every performance will be available with Closed Captioning. We have 6 units available per show; feel free to request one at the door or, if you would prefer, contact jafar@otherroomtheatre to secure a device in advance. 

BSL Interpreted Performance

Fri 20 October, 7.45pm

Touch Tours

We are able to offer a touch tour at 7pm before each performance on request. Tickets for the show will need to be booked separately at www.swanseagrand.co.uk/BabaJoon and then please email jafar@otherroomtheatre.com to book your touch tour.

 

Content Warnings

Content warnings for the production will be listed here once confirmed.

 

Venue 

For more information about visiting Swansea Grand Theatre, please see their webste www.swanseagrand.co.uk/YourVisit

 

Image photography by YellowBelly.