Theatre review: ECHO (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen)

In keeping with his usual theatrical style, originally developed when he was denied a passport and couldn't perform his shows himself, Nassim Soleimanpour uses a different actor as his proxy for every performance, allowing him to have someone make a connection with the audience even if he can't do so in person. Unusually, for his latest play ECHO (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen) the full schedule of guest stars was revealed in advance, and given there's now a message on the website saying that no, you can't have a free ticket exchange to a different night, the Royal Court might be regretting that as, presumably, they're getting inundated with calls demanding they see Jodie Whittaker or Toby Jones. Tonight's guest National Treasure was Meera Syal, who at least would have had some idea what she was getting herself into as it transpires she's done one of Soleimanpour's previous shows: The playwright was excited as that had been the performance his wife caught, and she'd gushed about Syal's performance.

Named, in part, after the elderly pet dog the Soleimanpours brought with them when they moved from Tehran to Berlin, ECHO centres on what may have been Nassim's last visit to Iran, to clear out their old house there. Although unable to work in his home country as a playwright, he felt able to occasionally revisit. When this 2022 visit resulted in him being taken in for questioning on arrival, he began to realise it may no longer be safe for his family to go back.

As with earlier show Nassim, Omar Elerian's production opens with supposedly ad-libbed moments between playwright and performer, as the two get to know each other and Nassim takes us on a tour of his Berlin apartment, before going outside to take the dog for a walk. Here the conceit is that the 5G fails, and Syal is left alone to tell us the story, either reading the script from a laptop, or reciting what she's being fed via an earpiece. When Nassim finally returns to the screen, the live feed gets replaced by a nightmare-like recording where he wanders his flat, eventually returning to the interrogation room in Iran. It has a feel of David Lynch, if you replaced the red drapes with dirty white walls, scarred from the removal of all personal effects.

Designer Derek Richards is also responsible for the video work, which very cleverly blends the pre-recorded sections with live footage of the stage (Soleimanpour walking through Syal's water bottle was the only moment this wasn't seamless.) The one personal detail actually making it onto the Royal Court stage is the playwright's own carpet - given one of the running themes of the play is that Persian rugs are considered to gain value the more they're used, the performance style means it's also accruing value as the run continues and more celebrity feet walk on it. Given that Syal manages to strike up chemistry with the pre-recorded voice welcoming her to the show it's not surprising that she does likewise with the affable Nassim, and even seems genuinely emotional by the end. ECHO ends up quite a rambling musing through ideas of homesickness and belonging, but done in a charmingly dreamlike, unpredictable way.

ECHO (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen) by Nassim Soleimanpour is booking until the 27th of July at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.

Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan.