Amir Reza Koohestani & Mehr Theatre Group

The Iranian director Amir Reza Koohestani made his international breakthrough in 2004 with ‘Dance on Glasses’. His performances are intimate and minimalistic, stripped of any drama. They evoke the social malaise in Iran and by extension, the human condition in general. ‘Summerless’ tells the story of a painter who used to live with a headmistress, but who left her because he wanted to live for his art. Neither of them has succeeded in starting a new life. When the school is in need of refurbishment, the woman asks her ex to paint murals on the walls of the playground. The work drags on due to a lack of money. Every day, an hour before school finishes, a mother comes and sits on the roundabout in the garden, waiting for the school bell. She and the painter start to talk…