Shawshini/Springtime in Kabul: a play exploring parenting in conflict zones

Springtime in Kabul/Shawshini: A play by Taqi Bakhtyari, Catherine Fargher, Heather Grace Jones with Bushra Iqbal-Hussein, Shahana Ajun, Nasra Aurungzeb, and Shugufta Khan, Mothers of APS Military School, Peshawar
Brief description of the play: Springtime in Kabul/Shawshini, is a play exploring parenting in conflict zones by Heather Grace Jones, Catherine Fargher and Taqi Bakhtyari, supported by the Griffin Theatre Studio program and a residency at Urban Theatre Projects. The work explores the many facets of parenting in conflict zones and the movement of people across the globe. We have tackled two key questions to develop our premise:
•How does one go on day after day parenting in a war/conflict zone?
•What strategies do parents use to become resilient in times of conflict?
The writers have developed their theatre script as three intertwining monologues based around the writers' own experience parenting in conflict zones as well as those of the teams’ interview subjects, including Hazara and Pakistani women. The style includes polyphonous storytelling, use of the Urdu, Pashtun and Farsi languages and a sound-track which includes recorded sounds from Kabul and Peshawar, as well as a recorded chorus of voices.
Development Background: In 2016, Catherine and Heather Grace were awarded a place in the Griffin Theatre Studio, where the research, interview and writing process began. In 2017 the writers were offered a residency space at UTP, Bankstown and Hazara Afghan writer Taqi Bakhtyari became both writer and cultural consultant. Dramaturgy/production development was assisted by writer Donna Abela and UTP director Rosie Denis and her team. The Australia Council has supported the project with a project grant in the literature discipline, and some of this grant has supported the script development and a reading process.
Research: To develop our monologues, we have gathered a range of materials. These include a series of interviews with Taqi Bakhtyari and his wife Latifa Bakhtyari as well as three interviews facilitated by Heather Grace and Internews journalist Bushra Iqbal (Peshawar, Pakistan), with the mothers of children killed in the 2014 APC (Military School) attack in Peshawar. The interview material has been transcribed and translated by Taqi Bakhtyari (Farsi) and Bushra Iqbal (facilitating Urdu translators). We have worked closely with Taqi to facilitate intercultural understanding. We have also recorded sounds from Peshawar which will be used to create a soundscape for the work.
Context: The significance and context of the work arises from the current international events. We are 17 years into the conflict which arose as a result of 9/11, the year two of our sons were born. We are experiencing a world at war, with 10 official wars and eight active military conflicts and other violent conflicts involving 64 countries and 576 militias and separatist groups and of course a refugee crisis of 65.3 million displaced persons, including 2.5 million Afghan refugees in 2014 alone. This situation is further complicated by the rise of populist anti-immigration movements that vilify people caught up in conflict. The play aims to explore the ways parent continue their daily lives within conflict. We want to juxtapose the minutiae of raising children, with the images and understanding western audiences have of war zones; to expose audiences to the lived experiences of people raising children in conflict areas.
This work is also grounded in the emerging area of performance around women and war, with Women and War conferences in London and US held in 2016-17. We are also locating it within the emerging international creative movement around women and war. We want this new play to add to a conversation that interrogates our national and international identity, expanding and asking cultural, political and personal questions. We hope this work will advance the conversation about war, or the form of the conversation. We hope it will build a conversation amongst communities.
Long-term aims: Our long-term aim for the next stage of development is to co-produce the work with Western Sydney partner Urban Theatre Projects or NTOP, as a possible co-production alongside Griffin theatre, for inclusion in their mainstage programs. We would also like to identify interest from national festival presentation partners.