'Foriegner' Review: Punk Anti-Comedy at Edinburgh Fringe
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- Sohrab Haghverdi performs his "anti-comedy clown show" "Foriegner" — the misspelling is intentional — at Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 31 August, in what the reviewer calls a destabilising amalgam of meta-theatrical games, autobiographical insight, and political provocation.
- The US-based Iranian performer claims drinking his own urine would secure him an O-1B US visa for virtuoso artistic talent — an ironic conceit the reviewer calls "hilariously subversive" if true.
- Sperm and urine function as recurring symbols throughout, alongside a "splenetic rant in favour of Trump's bombing of Iran," which the reviewer classifies as "punk theatre: irritating and brash."
- Directors Benjamin and Mason Rosenthal helm the production, which Haghverdi resists being "boxed in" by even as he delivers it, framing himself as misunderstood as both a linear storyteller and a maker of "crazy" theatre.
- The philosophy of 13th-century mystic Rumi — who called for people to "kill their false self" — provides a stated connecting thread behind Haghverdi's deliberately self-undermining style.
Why it matters: With a run ending 31 August at Summerhall, Haghverdi's self-described anti-comedy offers Edinburgh Fringe audiences a deliberately destabilising mix — the reviewer's verdict of a 'Marmite show' signals it will polarise viewers weighing bodily-taboo provocation and pro-Trump-Iran-bombing political theatre against conventional entertainment.
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