Emina Ashman Premieres Powerful New Work During La Mama Winter Season

Published by: Sassy Red PR | 18-Jun-2019
A personal, creative response to the symbol of Houris that's been derived from interpretations of sacred text, Make Me A Houri is an exploration of faith and feminism by Malaysia-born playwright Emina Ashman.
Venue: La Mama Courthouse
Address: 349 Drummond St, Carlton, VIC
Date: 25 July to 4 August, 2019
Time: Wed and Fri 8:30pm/Thurs, Sat and Sun 6:30pm
Ticket: $30 Full, $20 Concession
Buy / Ticket: https://lamama.com.au/whats-on/winter-spring-2019/make-me-a-houri/
Web: https://www.eminaashman.com/
: https://www.facebook.com/eminaashmanartist/
: https://www.instagram.com/eminaashman/?hl=en
Call: 03 9347 6948
Two women meet in the afterlife. After experiencing grave punishment, Asmara wants nothing more than to purify herself and transform into a Houri - a Virgin of Paradise. Safia agrees to help...

Premiering this July at La Mama's Courthouse Theatre in Carlton, 'Make Me A Houri' is a controversial and compelling story of two women seeking to defy the external forces governing their bodies. In a place where religion, liberation, and free will collide, is paradise attainable?

"'Make Me A Houri' is the result of my need to express how I felt about religious dogma, the patriarchal moral policing in Malaysia, and my own detachment from the Islamic cultural upbringing I was born into.", explains Writer and Performer Emina Ashman.

"The show sparked from there as I continued to question how interpretations of scripture affect my embodied experience and agency as a woman. What is the energy of tension that lies in between embodying spirituality and sensuality?"

A culmination of four years of creative development, with dramaturgical feedback from female artists and friends from diverse cultural backgrounds spanning Australia, South-East Asia, the Middle East and France, 'Make Me A Houri' blends poetry, stylised physicality and unusual anecdotes to explore the relationship between the realms of the mystical and the material. It promises to be a powerful debut season for Emina Ashman, as both writer and performer of her own work.

Based in Melbourne, Emina Ashman is an actor, theatre-maker and writer from Malaysia. She holds an Honours in Independent Theatre Practice and a Bachelors in Acting and Performance Making from the Victorian College of the Arts. Most recently seen in Melbourne Theatre Company's season of 'Hungry Ghosts' (2018), last year she also presented her solo-devised performance poetry piece, 'Stardust', in Kuala Lumpur at Kill the Radio's launch of their art exhibition In Defence of Poetry.

Written by Emina Ashman
Directed by Stephanie Ghajar
Performed by Emina Ashman and Nisha Joseph
Set and Costume design by Lara Week
Lighting Design by Shane Grant
Sound Design by Sidney Millar

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