On Stage at:
VAULT Festival, London Waterloo
From Tue 7 Mar 2023 to Fri 10 Mar 2023
(Samaj Weekly)- A powerful solo show about family, anti-Blackness, and what we’re willing to sacrifice for love.
After Simran loses her friend to honour-based violence, she has to answer some life-changing questions: will she and her boyfriend be able to live safely ever after?
Zahra Jassi’s play Honour-Bound was premiered at VAULT Festival, London, 2023.
“My play Honour-Bound is a solo show about honour-based violence (HBV) and anti-Blackness in South Asian communities. It follows Simran, on her way to City Airport because she’s fleeing HBV, and the journey she’s been on over the last two years from meeting her now-boyfriend, her relationship with her family, and the friend she lost to HBV.
The show is funny, poignant, and thought-provoking, and the majority of the creative team are Black and Brown artists.
Whilst the show is aimed at Black and South Asian people, it truly is a versatile show and I really think everyone who comes, regardless of race or ethnicity, will find something appealing within ‘Honour-Bound’. Thematically, people who enjoy character-driven shows that are well-balanced between comedy and drama will enjoy ‘Honour-Bound’.
Audiences can expect a show that is unexpectedly energetic and funny at times, that causes them to reflect on themselves and their habits (do they cut their sandwich down the middle or diagonally?), and that is extremely moving and poignant. They can expect to root for the main character with every fibre of their being, and then despise them for some of their views. They can expect to do this over and over again. They can expect to laugh and then cry, and then when least expecting it, they’ll laugh again. Above all, I hope audiences leave the show asking what they can do to tackle honour-based violence and/or anti-Blackness, and especially for the latter, interrogate their own personal bias and the biases of those around them, especially for members of the South Asian community.
It has been selected as one of five plays for ‘Plays From VAULT: 6’, which is being published by Nick Hern Books and “five of the best plays from VAULT Festival 2023, London’s leading festival of live performance”. https://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/plays-from-vault-6” – Zahra Jassi
