White Rabbit Red Rabbit – Duchess Theatre

Last Updated on June 9, 2026

Theatre as a social experiment

An actor opens an envelope on stage. Inside is a script they have never seen. This is not a rehearsal, and there is no director. The performance is now.  White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a one-person show written by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour. Opened in London as part of its 15th year celebrations, the production will run on Mondays only, when an actor will perform the play at the Duchess Theatre. The opening night starred Lucian Msamati (Game of Thrones), and future performers include David Tennant, David Harewood, Jo Joyner, Jodie Whitaker, and Riz Ahmed. The play has been translated into 30 languages and performed over 3000 times, so clearly it has captured audiences around the world. While White Rabbit Red Rabbit was written in 2010, Iran remains in the headlines as urgently as it was at the time, and Soleimanpour explores themes of obedience, choice and freedom of expression. References to death and suicide certainly balance any lighter moments.

Soleimanpour explains, via the actor who speaks for him, that at the time of writing, he had no passport and hence could not travel. In Iran, passports were issued on completion of two years of military service, which he had refused to participate in. He wanted at least to travel through his words, which helped him taste freedom, and he imagines where White Rabbit Red Rabbit will be performed, in what language, who the actor will be and how the audience will receive the production. He uses the actor as a link between himself and the audience. He writes that the past creates the future, and the future (us sitting in the audience) creates the past (brings him to life).

The unusual title refers to a fable related in White Rabbit Red Rabbit, which tells of his grandfather subjecting his rabbits to cruelty. The rabbits are all imprisoned, and the grandfather trains and manipulates their behaviour. This is a not-so-subtle observation about how we, the audience, can be encouraged to carry out instructions. Even when negative outcomes become clear, how do we respond? Do we subvert the evening at the theatre by refusing to comply with the playwright’s instructions written 15 years ago? I expect most audiences to participate happily. And this is part of the playwright’s point, as he illustrates how we become complicit by trusting, feeling obliged, or, in certain contexts, being forced to carry out behaviours. Soleimanpour is only too aware that, as a rabbit imprisoned in a cage at the time of writing, he was not safe from attack by other rabbits in the cage with him. In fact, he writes repeatedly that he may be dead or alive by the time his words reach us. Fortunately, Soleimanpour is very much alive and made a brief appearance on stage at the end of opening night. But this night at the theatre makes us reflect on how little has changed in the society from which he has released himself.

In London, safe and trusting in the theatre, the actor and the audience know that no harm will come to any of us during the course of the evening. It is impossible to imagine. Yet Soleimanpour makes it explicit that this is not the case in Iran, where writing a play like this carries a risk. At what point do we speak out as instructions encourage us to enact cruelty or to endanger others? What are the limits to our obedience? Are there limits?  Do we carry out the instructions or do we become complicit through our silence? Do we write our own script or simply carry out the instructions written by someone else? In this sense, White Rabbit Red Rabbit is somewhat didactic and certainly unsubtle. It would be a good production to take into senior schools to get pupils to think about the slow creep of complicity and personal responsibility, along with the contexts in which this has gone perilously wrong when whole societies become complicit in cruelty.

It takes a brave actor to perform a play unseen, and I wondered what the experience would be as an audience member. It was as much a social experiment as a theatrical performance and relied for its success on the participation of the audience. The actor on opening night, Lucian Msamati, was engaging and amusing, turning the pages of the script, never knowing whether the next page would explore dark issues of death and cruelty or veer off into absurdist comedy. His reading was understated, but he kept the energy flowing and was very encouraging of the audience members who participated on stage. As every performance is unique, it would be interesting to see what other actors bring to this production, which has developed quite a following over the past 15 years.

White Rabbit Red Rabbit runs at the Duchess Theatre from 8 June to 28 September, Mondays only.

Duchess Theatre, 3 – 5 Catherine Street, London WC2B 5LA

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