Earworm

Have you ever had a voice lodged in your memory that won’t go away? Clawing at your skin, bones, and nerves until it’s all you can think about? For Homa, an Iranian refugee living in Canada with her son Pendar, this is her daily torment. Haunted by the trauma of torture under the oppressive Islamic regime, Homa channels her pain into activism as an outspoken podcaster, fiercely condemning the human-rights violations in Iran. But her freedom is tested when she discovers that the father of Pendar’s new girlfriend is a devout Islamist and requests she wear a hijab in his presence. As the voices in her mind grow louder, Homa fears the nightmares from her past have followed her right to her doorstep.

In Earworm, provocateur Mohammad Yaghoubi delivers a brilliant thriller that interrogates the fragile promises of political asylum and resonates not just with Iranian immigrants, but with all who have fled persecution in their homeland only to encounter their oppressors once again in their new country. Created in solidarity with the 2022 international Woman, Life, Freedom demonstrations that originated in Iran, this confrontational, clever, and suspenseful drama burrows deep under your skin and lingers long after its shocking conclusion.

• Mohammad wrote this play to respond to the increasing number of individuals connected to the Islamic Republic settling in Canada—a place people like him had hoped would be far from those he once escaped.
• First produced by NOWADAYS THEATRE in association with Crow’s Theatre, Toronto, from February 6 to March 3, 2024.