FORIEGNER, the Fringe debut of Iranian theatremaker Sohrab Haghverdi, is the kind of show that you know will be, let’s say, erudite. It starts with Haghverdi coughing and crawling around the stage for several minutes, a familiar way of symbolising some form of trauma. What follows is a self-reflective monologue as he claims that his shows have been described as too linear or too conceptual. So, for this one, with its intentionally misspelled title, he decides to do both. His approach is to give us some keys to understanding the show, while the rest will be non-linear, experimental, and difficult to understand without those keys. One of these keys, which gives us a taste of what is to come, is that he wants to punish his parents with his own death.

Haghverdi’s show from there becomes many things, including videos from Sam Gough, Chief Executive of Summerhall, the venue where he is performing, introducing the show in a rather polite but perfunctory way. Haghverdi’s show also includes claiming that he needs to drink his own piss on stage so that he can get a visa to stay in America for being a genius. Haghverdi makes deliberately provocative statements about identity politics, white supremacy, what he calls ‘label supremacy’, Donald Trump’s immigration policy and, of course, the war in Iran. He is not afraid to challenge the audience, especially in the left-leaning space of the Fringe. At one point, he says that he supports Trump’s actions against Iran, a statement that clearly unsettles some members of the audience. The reaction raises questions about how political positions are judged differently depending on the experiences of the person expressing them. To me, the contrast between a largely Western audience accustomed to democratic freedoms and an immigrant performer whose life has been shaped by a very different political reality becomes part of the tension in the room, rather than a simple explanation for why the audience disagrees with him.

The experience of FORIEGNER is promised to be a mixed bag, and you can see that from the audience. Two people behind me cannot stop laughing, while another decides to leave halfway through the show. The performance deliberately provokes and refuses to settle into a straightforward, black-and-white structure. At times, its reliance on metaphor makes some of its provocative ideas feel less fully grounded in argument, but the divided response it creates is also part of what makes the show worth experiencing. Rather than telling its audience exactly what to think, FORIEGNER leaves the room divided, uncomfortable, and unsure of where to stand.

FORIEGNER has finished its run