Ostan follows the life of Rebin, an Iraqi-Kurd who has been stuck in the UK’s broken immigration system for nearly a decade, writes Kinga Plata

A new theatre comedy-drama by an award-winning playwright is coming to Park Theatre in Finsbury Park this autumn.

Ostan, meaning province, state or border, is a new play written by Arzhang Pezhman and follows the life of Rebin, an Iraqi-Kurd who has been stuck in the UK broken immigration system for nearly a decade.

The play, which has already got star reviews from publishers in various UK locations, will be performed at Park Theatre from 18th September until 12th October.

Suitable for audiences aged 14 and over, the performance features a cast of five Middle Eastern region actors and is captioned in four languages, English, Sorani, Kurmanji and Farsi.

The main character, Rebin, has been stuck in the UK immigration system for almost a decade, which has given him plenty of time to get into a routine. With no safe passage home, Rebin watches various immigrants go through the carwash where he works and move on with their lives. But when his boss proposes using his struggling hand car wash business as a front for a human trafficking enterprise by smuggling immigrants into the country in the boots of their client’s cars, Rebin’s routine is about to be shattered.

As Pezhman explained, the play was inspired by true events: “I read a newspaper article in 2015 about the arrest of an Iraqi carwash owner who was asking customers of the carwash to smuggle people from mainland Europe in the boots of their cars.

“As a first-generation refugee from Iran, although some 40 years ago, it raised so many questions for me about the current immigration crisis. Like how politicians and demagogues seem to distract attention with fiery rhetoric about the evils of ‘lax borders, small boats, and nefarious smugglers’ while doing very little for the hundreds of thousands already here, stuck in a broken immigration system.

“And for those stuck, often for years, who are you meant to be in this state of limbo?”

Tickets for Ostan can be purchased online:
Visit parktheatre.co.uk/event/ostan

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