Homotopia: Habibi Problem

Andy Johnson explores a moving true story of love, pain and persecution, under the umbrella of one of our most successful festivals …

Homotopia, the international festival of queer arts and culture, is now one of Liverpool’s major festivals, and will be celebrating its tenth anniversary next year. Director Garry Everett was voted 89th in the Independent’s Pink List of 2012 – a round up of the 100 most influential lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who readers felt made Britain safer, fairer, better and more entertaining. Judges praised Everett for steering Homotopia “from being a local concern to a national and international one via bold, diverse programming”.

Although it started small, it has always had an intent to bring the best of national and international gay culture to the city, raising issues and reflecting the local LGBT community. According to Polari Magazine, the festival “has developed into one of the most exciting innovative queer arts and culture programmes in Europe.” With all this in mind, I ventured off to see the UK premiere of Habibi Problem, performed at the Bluecoat last week by dance company CieLaroque, who are Austria’s most prolific dance company.

A multi-media show about two gay Iranian teenagers, it is named after the Arabic word ‘habibi’, which is the male equivalent of ‘beloved’. Quite ironic then, when considering the way the antagonists are treated by their state, Iran, in their expression of love. Liverpool now has a significant Iranian population, many of whom are here due to an oppressive regime imbedded after the 1979 revolution. This is a community that strives to be self-sufficient and self-reliant, so an expression of this through a very modern medium may be seen as a rare glimpse inside a private world.

“Knowing this was based on a true story quite obviously had the audience gripped”

An innovative piece with two story lines, conveyed by a triple screen set-up and a contemporary dancer in a sparse and minimal set, draws the audience into the action with a filmed car chase, showing a young man escaping his country. This was conveyed in a animated, live-action style which gave it a heroic quality, almost resembling a 1950’s boys-own comic. Meanwhile, on stage lies unnoticed his boyfriend, who had been captured and imprisoned. Knowing this was based on a true story quite obviously had the audience gripped; Mehdi Kazemi was studying in the UK in 2004, while back home in Iran his boyfriend was arrested, interrogated and subsequently executed in 2006.

Part contemporary dance, part mime, it was an effective way to portray the boredom, frustration, squalor and torture the prisoner endured. This contrasted with an escape narrative unfolding during the course of the performance. We found ourselves switching between the two aspects of the story, which developed tension and further enhanced key pieces of information being placed on the screen. References were made to appalling actions against homosexual people that are still happening around the world.

This was a mesmerising performance that puzzled and perplexed at times. However, for me, the explosive end brought into a clear focus the need for Homotopia and the issues it highlights. The festival would not have known when programming this event that Uganda would push forward legislation to officially pass a death penalty for homosexuals in the same time period. Habibi Problem not only showcased a powerful performance of contemporary dance, but also uncovered a stark message very relevant to our times; people are still being persecuted and murdered globally on the basis of their sexuality.

Running until 30th November, don’t miss other diverse events as part of the festival, including Epstein (a play about, of course, Brian Epstein) on at the newly reopened Epstein Theatre, Enrico David at the Walker Gallery (as part of Biennial 2012), and Patrick Wolf performing part of his world tour at The Gallery on Stanhope Street. Next year sees a major project on the life of April Ashley, the first British person to successful undergo a transgender operation, who also happened to be born in Norris Green, North Liverpool.

Andy Johnson

Homotopia continues until 30th November 2012

Check out the Homotopia website for listings!

Posted on 19/11/2012 by thedoublenegative