Writer: Nassim Soleimanpour
Director: Omar Elerian
To celebrate 15 years of success, There & Then Theatre Company’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit returns to the London stage. Lucian Msamati, stepping in for David Harewood, takes centre stage for the opening night. Although Omar Elerian is credited as the director, this production is a theatrical experiment, where there is no direction, no rehearsals, with a different actor playing the role each performance, having never seen the script before.
Trapped in Iran for refusing military service, Soleimanpour uses his play as a way to escape the shackles of Khamenei’s Iranian regime. Rather than face up to the harsh realities of life, he is content to be bound forever within the pages and sentences of White Rabbit Red Rabbit, as it travels the stages of the world.
Elerian first explains the concept of the play and invites its lead and only actor, Msamati, out from the wings, who introduces himself with a flamboyant bow to an applauding crowd. It becomes immediately apparent why Elerian and Soleimanpour elected to hire stars for their production, as the nature of the play requires great confidence in the lead actor.
One of the joys of theatre is the fleeting, ephemeral nature of a production, going to see a show once and knowing it will never be seen again in the same way. This is especially true with White Rabbit Red Rabbit, where every show is unique, wholly spontaneous and truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
That being said, White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a play for thespians, aspiring or otherwise, as there is frequent audience participation, including several members brought onto the stage and asked to perform. While it has the feel of a raucous dress rehearsal, it is quite anxiety-inducing to those who are comfortable in the safety of the stalls and have no wish to be suddenly called upon to demonstrate their dramatic prowess.
White Rabbit Red Rabbit feels like it could have been written by René Daumal or Flann O’Brien, such is the nature of the absurdist comedy. At other times, it is heartfelt and thought-provoking, a layered production that looks at the absurdity of the Khamenei regime, told through the allegory of the Monkey Ladder Experiment: in Soleimanpour’s adaptation, the monkeys are replaced by rabbits. Msamati’s performance is met with thunderous applause, made even greater when writer Soleimanpour comes out after the final curtain alongside Elerian. White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a wildly entertaining and still very current production, wholly unique and well worth seeing.
Runs until 2 November 2026
