In an impressive coup for Canberra Theatre, the newest theatrical offering from Iranian-born playwright Nassim Soleimanpour is coming to The Playhouse as one of only two stops in Australia.

Like Soleimanpour’s White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, seen at The Street Theatre in 2014 and BLANK, staged at The Mill in 2024, ECHO, meaning Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen, features a lone performer opening a sealed envelope, then performing what’s in the script.

The Australian leg of the production, directed by Omar Elerian, follows a sold-out debut at the London International Festival of Theatre last year featuring stars like Emilia Clarke, Jodie Whittaker and Fiona Shaw.

There, Soleimanpour, though based in Berlin, directed the actors remotely in real-time, guiding them through the themes of home, belonging, and the immigrant experience, blending traditional storytelling with modern technology.

Impressively, the work has been co-commissioned by Canberra Theatre with LIFT, The Royal Court Theatre, Staatstheater Mainz, Riksteatern in Sweden, Why Not Theatre in Toronto), Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, Le Lieu Unique in Nantes, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and The Shed in New York City.

Here the performers will be actors Fayssal Bazzi, Paula Arundell and Canberra Youth Theatre alumna, Nathalie Morris, along with media identity and public intellectual, Benjamin Law.

ECHO has been billed a theatrical puzzle that will keep audiences thinking long after the lights go down.

“Utterly unpredictable,” Canberra Theatre director Alex Budd says of the coming play.

 ECHO, (Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen) The Playhouse, July 24-26.