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Lost in Translation

 
Isabella Thompson Review by Isabella Thompson 3 Published: 12 Aug 2023 Greenside @ Infirmary Street Show Dates: 4 Aug 2023-19 Aug 2023

Set in the unconscious mind of a tortured poet, Mahan Nikbakhsh’s new play Lost in Translation examines cultural and intellectual disconnection that seeks to unpack the British-Iranian experience.

An engaging watch that leaves you wanting to know more

The Poet protagonist is in a coma and the audience are guided through the story via vignettes of conversations in his own mind with two separate, self-created characters: a lover and a critic. It is deeply introspective and cryptic, with consistent tongue-in-cheek wordplay that gently reiterates the poet’s self-examination that is continually lost in translation.

The play is loosely inspired by the writing of Sadeq Hedayat and how famously challenging, near impossible, it is to accurately translate his work into English. The themes in his most prominent poem The Blind Owl are echoed in Nikbakhsh’s depiction of his poet’s fraught relationship with his imaginary lover. Though she rejects and criticises him, he soothes himself still by dreaming of their love-making, much to his inner-critic’s despair.

The play conveys the protagonist’s avoidance of his Iranian roots using intriguing mechanisms. The personification of his inner critic questions him about his family and at one point even forces him to physically interact with a momentum from his childhood, which he does so reluctantly.

The dialogue is well-written and convincingly depicts intimate relationships between the poet and the two characters in his mind with witty sarcasm and irony. Overall, however, it seems the play has more to offer in conception than in practice. The script slightly misses the mark of the writer’s aim as it spends a wealth of time discussing the poet’s pompous character rather than the tension between his Iranian heritage and British upbringing. This is not to say that the commentary is not present, but it builds relatively late in the storyline, making the viewer question where the plot is heading.

Lost in Translation would welcome more of Nikbakhsh’s insightful comment on cultural isolation and what it means to belong that goes beyond his protagonist’s struggle with intimacy and disillusionment from his poetry. It is an engaging watch that leaves you wanting to know more.

Amir Nisi

Isabella Thompson

Isabella is a London-based performer and writer. Her training in theatrical arts and experience directing, producing and treasuring for theatre companies has developed her deep understanding of the creative process. The breadth of her artistic passion can be seen in her accredited work spanning script-writing, singing, dancing and violin-playing. When Isabella sees a show, she looks for authenticity, individuality and ingenuity.

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Based loosely on the Iranian modernist writer, Sadeq Hedayat, Lost in Translation is an absurdist piece of theatre about cultural and intellectual disconnection. By delving into the subconscious of our poet-protagonist, an unabashedly pompous figure trying to understand the world outside, we see the inner struggles that arise from not fitting in. Mistranslated and literally stuck in their own head, our poet tries to understand how they can fit into a world that seems, at all points, to be trying to leave them behind.
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