ZEP takes on the sacred cows of love with comedy HABIB. (Why Rascal should just come and watch)

So certain words are taboo. Moroccan Said explains that his ideal woman has to be a virgin, chaste, and so should not let him ... well, that is. That word you are not allowed to say. The Turkish Evrim thinks that's big nonsense again. Why not call a spade a spade? Habib, the latest performance by theatre group ZEP, is about all facets of love in times of cultural confusion. The show, aimed at audiences from 14 to 88, will be performed at various venues across the country throughout 2018.

In Habib, actors Evrim Akyigit and Said El Abboudi play characters who bear their names but have experienced a little more than the actors themselves. Bart Oomen, the show's director, wrote the text based on conversations with the two actors, but also incorporated other stories: 'We started talking about love first. In those interviews, we shared personal experiences. Which ones I'm not going to reveal. Furthermore, I did a lot of research on love and sexuality. I find it very interesting to see that people from a migrant background have very different thoughts about love than we do. The first generation often sees our Western conception of love as a luxury. Something you can afford if you have a lot of money.'

Rapper Rascal

The recent uproar over statements by rapper Boef are actually grist for ZEP's mill: love, traditions and clashing views on them are super topical. The show itself, which I saw at a rehearsal, is mostly loving and playful. There is plenty to laugh at. Yet it is striking that the texts, captured in a kind of truth or dare joust, touch on views on morality among Turks and Moroccans. The vulnerable position of women in many Islamic cultures is also discussed.

Bart Oomen also cites other sources: 'I took a lot of inspiration from the film 'Much loved'. That film is banned in Morocco. It is beautiful documentary-style film about prostitution in Marrakech.

Another source is the film Bezness as Usual, about a Dutchman with a Tunisian father, about male prostitution. There is a lot of inequality around that trade, but I think all parties know where the shoe pinches. What do you need? Some need money and others need oblivion.

It is not just about religion or culture

There is a huge cultural gap precisely around love, says Oomen: 'There is also often a bit of a badinating talk among migrants about what Western people think about how things should be in the East. Maybe it is like that, but maybe not. It's not just about religion or culture. There are other things underlying it, like poverty. Love is a social system. I've also talked a lot with actors of Moroccan or Turkish origin in previous productions and then we also talk about love. Many of the actors I know have parents who are coupled. That is different from what we are used to in the Netherlands. But an outsider sees us and also thinks "yes, what Is love then?". Marriage is not just bad. Either you learn to love each other or you are already in love with each other.'

Bangal lists

And then, of course, there are the taboos. Prostitution, bangalists, slutshaming on telegram, quite a few things go wrong. The characters Evrim and Saïd seek rapprochement in this confusing world. Evrim: 'They are also two adults who are actually looking for what they had with each other despite their tainted past. It's almost like couples therapy. They both discover their own pasts and their own fixed images. They engage in a battle to be able to look each other straight in the eye again.'

For young audiences, the performance could be confrontational. The two actors do not mince their words, and the stories they tell are quite intense. Saïd talks very enthusiastically about his existence as a gigolo in Morocco, but also how he missed a year of drama school because he committed a robbery for lack of money and was arrested. Evrim comes with a story about how, as a young woman, she fell into the hands of a loverboy.

Whether it all really happened to them we will never know, but it can evoke violent reactions.

Sensing ability

Bart Oomen worries little about the reactions: 'Of course, I have made a lot of things for young people. I know they have a lot of empathy. The tone matters a lot. We say something and put it back into perspective. We keep space, if you don't do that you go wet. But from the other side, it does feature a woman saying, "I was a whore".

According to Evrim, it also makes a difference whether you play real drama, pretending that the audience is not there, or playing with the audience: "The transparent style we use also ensures that it remains manageable. If you play with the 'fourth wall', the children are much more likely to shout things like whore or slut. When we played Hamlet last year, they dared to do that much faster. If you have a one-to-one conversation with someone, you look each other in the eye and then you will be a bit more nuanced in your reaction.'

Emancipation

People should become more aware of what they say, Oomen believes: 'Whore has become a buzzword, while in 90 per cent of cases women have not chosen that existence.'

But in the end, Habib has also just become a fresh, fun show, the makers stress. And love wins. Saïd: 'It's theatre; it's comedy, flying at each other, going over audience. It's just fun, with nice music, nostalgic thoughts. And it's about theatre. What theatre has done for us.'

'That's authentic though,' Bart Oomen stresses: 'How they made it as people from different backgrounds in the theatre world.'

Good to know

ZEP's Habib plays across the country from 17 January. Information.