“The Child” by Iranian Writer Nagmeh Samini at Pireos 260 – A Powerful Statement for Peace and Equality

The theatrical production “The Child,” starring Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, comes to the Athens Epidaurus Festival 2026 for two performances. On Monday, July 1 and Tuesday, July 2, it will be presented at Pireos 260 as part of the tribute “Voices of Iran.”

The play begins and ends with an urgent question: Which bodies are considered valuable, and which are deemed unwanted? On a shore in Western Europe, three women are arrested and taken in for interrogation and possible deportation by the authorities. They come from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, all survivors of abuse. What unites them is not only their shared experience and journey toward Europe, but also a newborn baby in their care.

One after another, they are questioned by an immigration officer. Every application for entry is rejected. But what about the newborn? Each woman denies being the child’s mother, not out of indifference, but out of a desperate and protective love. None of the three women admits maternity so that, even if they themselves are deported, the baby might still remain in Europe. Their desire to save the infant from an uncertain, even deadly future becomes their only common language. The confrontations between the official and the women under interrogation are intense and, when the officer demands a DNA test, the interpreter intervenes – a kind of “deus ex machina.”

Written by Iranian author Nagmeh Samini as a powerful statement in favor of peace and equality, the work is directed by Tehran-born Afsaneh Mahian, an artist whose work consistently focuses on social issues and women’s experiences. Mahian is the founder of the Shieveh Theatre Company, which has been invited to international festivals and warmly received by audiences worldwide. Through stories of women from the Middle East and North Africa, Mahian emerges as a vital voice of the broader Middle Eastern experience, bringing to the stage not images from the headlines, but the inner truth of people struggling to survive amid war, poverty, borders, and institutional indifference.

Amid interrogations, silences, and translations, the play reminds us that behind every “case file” there is a human life that cannot be translated into documents and certificates. Presented in Persian with surtitles, the production seeks to preserve the immediacy of its original voice. Without spectacle or embellishment, the performance transforms the theatre into a shared space of interrogation, where our gaze is tested and our own stance placed under scrutiny. The three women are portrayed by internationally acclaimed actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya in a performance unfolding upon a strip of sand.

Director: Afsaneh Mahian
Director’s Consultant – Set, Costume & Lighting Design: Manouchehr Shoja
Assistant Director – International Programs Coordinator: Gilnaz Yousefian
Stage Manager: Mahdi Safarzadeh Khaniki
Sound Effects: Mohammad Lorestani

Cast: Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Mehran Nael, Shiva Fallahi