Lola

Imagine you had to sleep with your eyes open. What would the dream world look like if you could still see the real one?
Lola is a poetic, surreal play that explores this situation. Its allegorical story brings together characters from different backgrounds and sends them sailing towards a better world. Instead, they arrive on a remote island and meet its sole inhabitant, Lola, a woman with no eyelids.

The play was written in Persian in 2018 and staged at Tehran City Theatre under its original title, Lolita. Although it shares its title with Nabokov’s novel, it is not an adaptation. The play explores women’s and children’s rights, free will and the formation of law. It was translated into English in 2025 and received a staged reading at the Corpus Playroom in May 2026.
A recording of the original production can be viewed here: farshadjafari.ir/projects/lolita.html (opens in a new tab)