Forbidden

Run Time

Language
Genre
Content Advisory
Approx. 1 hour

Performed in English and Farsi with English surtitles

Contemporary opera / hip hop

Sexual violence, incarceration, religious abuse, homophobia, conversion therapy

Classical Persian music, opera and hip-hop collide in Forbidden. A young girl is being told the “rules” of the world, and in questioning why certain things are forbidden – attracts the attention of Lucifer. She searches and discovers banned knowledge, prohibited activities, and different rules for girls and women… and begins to understand that not all rules are about ‘right and wrong’ and that not all power is benevolent.

A mesmerizing, genre-defying score by Iranian-born composer Afarin Mansouri and a razor-sharp libretto by Afro-Caribbean playwright and hip-hop artist Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, bring the brilliant curiosity of the young and the sceptics view of our imperfect world together in a unique performance with opera and rap artists, and a chamber orchestra of Persian percussion, ney, and tar.