TO LOVE OR NOT TO LOVE

Can love truly save us—or is it simply another beautiful pain we continue to rehearse?

To Love Or Not To Love is an original absurd play-within-a-half-musical inspired by Nezami Ganjavi’s timeless Romantic Epic Khosrow and Shirin. Set inside a contemporary rehearsal room, the play follows a group of actors as they attempt to stage the ancient love story, only to find their own relationships, desires, and unresolved pasts gradually intertwining with the myth they are performing.

The production is inspired by Nezami Ganjavi’s twelfth-century masterpiece Khosrow and Shirin, one of the greatest romantic epics in Persian literature. The poem tells the story of Khosrow, the King of Persia, and Shirin, an Armenian princess whose love endures years of separation, political conflict, and personal sacrifice. Their relationship is complicated by Farhad, a gifted sculptor who falls deeply in love with Shirin. Farhad’s unwavering devotion and tragic fate have made him one of the enduring symbols of selfless love in Persian culture.

Rather than adapting the original story, To Love Or Not To Love reimagines its emotional and philosophical themes through the lens of a contemporary rehearsal, exploring how these ancient questions continue to resonate in today’s world.

Actors:
Nikta Ghazi
Steve Amazzal
Navid Charkhi
Sara Poursorkh
Majid Tafreshi

Original Music and Music Direction by
Madmazel