Sachli Gholamalizad at the Fringe

Yesterday I saw Sachli Gholamalizad's performance "A Reason to Talk" as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. After the show, I was shaking and in tears and had to tell Sachli just how moved I was.

Throughout the show, Sachli was sitting at a desk with two computers as she typed her fears, her thoughts, and messages to the audience, which appeared on one of the screens amongst the a multi-screen installation. Her face typically occupied one or two of the screens as she looked into the webcam on one of the laptops. Through her own voice, her typed messages and pre-filmed interviews with her mother, Sachli tells the story of how her family moved from Iran to Belgium when she was five years old and how she struggled to understand her family's situation. The story focused on her troubled relationship with her mother and the ways in which family members try to understand each other and ultimately have to accept one another for who they are.

The performance was incredibly gorgeous and discussed issues of identity, which, as a Canadian coming from a family of Middle Eastern immigrants, I can relate to.

Below is a trailer of the brilliant performance.