One

They say I’m Iranian, but is that what I really am? 

Nominated by Quebec’s Association of Theatre Critics as Best Original Script and winner of Best Male Performance, Mani Soleymanlou’s one-man show is a search for identity, a coming-of-age and a coming-to-terms story in which he searches, finds, loses, forgets, rejects and ignores what he thought he always wanted to be. It’s also a comedy. 

From his birthplace in Iran, via Paris to Montreal, where he now lives, Soleymanlou charts his own journey and ponders that of today’s Persian youth, who fight daily for their liberty, their freedom of speech and their lives. Along the way he attempts to answer a recurring question: how can you embrace what you are without rejecting where you came from? 

One is a solo performance but it is populated by numerous characters: family members, girlfriends, worshippers, airline passengers. Above all, the culture, colours and scents of Iran permeate this witty, wise and optimistic love letter to home and identity.