Interview: Pooria Fard of Horses at the Window

Mother Son Daughter Father Wife Husband

by Christopher Douglas

A recent graduate of Humber College’s Theatre Performance class, Pooria Fard stars in Horses at the Window by Matei Viniec in a translation by Alison Sinclair. In addition to playing the role of the Messenger, he is also a member of Go Team Producing, serving as assistant producers on the show. Having participated in the SummerWorks Leadership Intensive Program with him this summer, I sat down with Pooria and caught up about the upcoming show.

CHARPO: What is the show about?

FARD: The play centres on three relationships: Mother and Son, Daughter and Father and Wife and Husband. In each of these, the amazing Oyin Oladejo plays the woman. And, in each scene, after the men leave for battle, a Messenger arrives with news. 

There is no specific timeline to the play; it’s not about one war or another, though it mentions battles by name but they span history and geography. The play emphasizes the universality of war and the consequences for those left behind but it isn’t about war so much as being about what it is to be left behind when people go to war. It’s about how survivors react to the news that something terrible has happened to someone they care about. For me, playing the Messenger, it’s about the challenge of having to tell each woman in a new way, to let them know without sounding automated or scripted, finding the compassion in a moment that asks for impersonal action and demands strength.

a shit-storm (if you’ll pardon the expression) of emotions

CHARPO: Sounds a bit heavy –

FARD: Our director, Siavash Shabanpour, devised a concept for the show that uses life-sized puppets and animation.  Sometimes theatre that’s tech-heavy feels like it may have too many bells and whistles but, in this case, the script leaves room for the imagination; Viniec, the writer, wants you to make it your own production. And while Oyin has to go full-speed all the time – she never leaves the stage – she takes the audience on this roller coaster of a play, a shit-storm (if you’ll pardon the expression) of emotions. 

CHARPO: How has it been working with the cast and crew you helped to assemble?

FARD: Everyone on this show – from the actors to the designers, producers and stage management – all graduated from Humber College except for the director and assistant director. (The director is a York graduate.) For me, it’s been wonderful working with these people I already know; it takes care of that getting to know one another process.  But the theatre community is so generous: ask for help and you often get it. 

CHARPO: What is a challenge that you faced producing this show?

FARD: There’s only so much planning you can do before you just get into the space and have to figure  out how it works – kind of like producing, it’s a hands-on job.

CHARPO: How did you find Horses at the Window?

FARD: Prior to becoming an actor, I tried a few things: being an engineer or in pharmaceuticals. And our director, Siavash, was doing this Farsi play that he wrote at York’s Glendon campus. He gave me a call and wanted me to act in the show – no audition even. I was flattered, but I expected it to be a walk-on. It was one of the four leads. Eventually, I asked Siavash why he chose me, since I had never acted before, never been onstage. I had no clue. He reassured me it wasn’t because I was the character. He just had faith in me; he could see me doing it. Through that, I met Soheil Parsa (of Modern Times Theatre) who told me to pursue acting. When I was accepted at Humber, I didn’t look back.

A few years passed and Siavash and I had a meeting. He showed me this script, Horses at the Window, and I read it. He told me he planned to produce the play and wanted me to play the Messenger. I realized pretty quickly I knew some things about producing that he didn’t and convinced him to let me relieve him of some of those functions and it’s all snowballed from there.

We once spent an-hour-and-a-half debating over two sentences

CHARPO: But the script hasn’t been performed or published in English…?

FARD: Matei Viniec hasn’t been produced in English much. This play was done in Chicago a few years back but, in Canada, the only other production of Viniec’s work was The Story Of The Panda Bears Told By a Saxophonist Who Has a Girlfriend in Frankfort, due to Siavash’s work at Glendon.

There already existed a script of Horses at the Window translated from Romanian (the original language) into English, but it was an abbreviated workshop production. Our company spent three weeks – the director, the translator and myself – going over the French version and translating the script into English, then comparing it with a Farsi translation we had with some different stage directions. It was quite an undertaking. It was a lot of intense long hours early this summer. We once spent an-hour-and-a-half debating over two sentences, with multiple webpages open, translating from English to French, French to Romanian, Farsi to French and so on to make sure we were all on the same page, following the intention of the playwright in the most complete way possible. 

CHARPO: What do you hope the audience will take away from the show?

FARD: I hope that a person who sees the show won’t leave thinking about war – that’s bollocks. You shouldn’t think about general things – think of your own life experience and your own personal losses. My hope is they think about the connections between themselves and what they see on the stage, no matter how absurd what’s onstage may be, because that absurdity is so close to reality. I also hope they have a chuckle and are entertained, because I think this show has a real sense of humour. So I hope they find the connections, because this is a play that makes demands of the audience: they have to be present, there’s a story to follow, it’s not flat or predictable. After all, the play’s filled with tragedy and darkness but also laughter – the delicate balance between drama and comedy.

Performances take place at the Great Hall, 1087 Queen Street West between October 25th and November 2nd. To reserve a seat, email horsesatthewindow.tickets@gmail.com.