A semi-biographical theatre piece by Riwa Saab exploring grief through the lens of intergenerational relationships.
Presented by Arts Admin with support from Arts Council England, Counterpoints Arts, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Shubbak.
In a pursuit of better understanding her father, Riwa finds a letter he sent to his own late dad. With this discovery, she unlocks a quest that travels through timelines and across conversations with family members, piecing together a puzzle. Pulling in puppetry, silhouettes, and verbatim audio, How I Grew a Moustache explores how grief and silence travel across generations, and what it means to inherit stories that are left untold. At its heart, the work asks how diasporic families carry love, loss and memory across time.
Riwa Saab is a theatre-maker, sound designer, poet and puppeteer. With her hands in different writing/composing and performance disciplines, she works in both creative and backstage capacities. Her art puts people and our relationships at the centre of the political narratives we inhabit, with recent explorations including the unpacking of generational and familial baggage, and the politics of pop princesses.
“The elegance with which Riwa traveled through and compressed time was extraordinary. Grief and loss often feel tied to specific moments, but Riwa managed to show how something that happened 50 years ago to someone else can still be happening to us in the present.” – Audience member
Artsadmin / Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial St, London E1 6AB
Presented as part of Whitechapel Gallery’s Backyard Biennale
Friday 25 July
7 – 8pm
Book your free ticket
Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Rd, London W12 8LJ
Thursday 17 July
8 – 9pm
Friday 18 July
8 – 9pm
