SEEKERS (2005)

Direction: Jadranka Andjelic Performers: Electa Behrens (USA) Janos Bus (Serbia) Set and costume design: Antonella Diana ( Italy) Texts from: Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan (Madeline) by Jean Fuller, The Gift by Hafiz, Bhagavad Gita Organization: Elizabeta Kurela (Serbia)

Woven from the threads of the Sufi Master Hafiz's poetry, this performance tells the story of Noor and Vilayat Khan. This sister and brother, brought up in the Sufi tradition, were faced with an essential dilemma when their lives were crossed by World War II. In a world that was actively destroying all traces of human kindness with cruelty, how were their peaceful beliefs to guide them? Could they take active involvement in the war without compromising their own spiritual integrity?

Each in their own way, they chose to answer the call of the times with direct involvement. Noor became the first female radio spy in Paris and was eventually captured and executed because she refused to cooperate with the Nazis. Vilayat, after surviving the war, took up the spiritual path, becoming the head of Sufi International and spreading the teaching of love until the end of his life in 2004. Living and dying with great personal integrity, they embody the teachings of Hafiz who asks us all to courageously change the world, in each of our actions and thoughts.

Any thought that you are better or less
Than another man
Quickly
Breaks the wine
Glass.
(Hafiz)

Noor and Vilayat Khan were the children with Nazrat Inayat Khan, renowned Sufi teacher who spread the belief of the fundamental oneness of all religions to the countries of the West. The onslaught of WW II brought great changes in their lives and spiritual paths. Following her own sense of responsibility, Noor decided to risk her life by becoming the first female secret agent - radio operator - sent to France by the British Secret Service. When all her colleagues were arrested, she refused to return to the safety of England and kept alive one of the few radio connections working inside occupied France. Eventually, she too, was betrayed and captured. Due to her staunch refusal to cooperate the Germans named her an "extremely dangerous prisoner". But even under these crushing circumstances, she acted in accordance with her spiritual beliefs; all her friends and enemies remember her as an example of gentleness and compassion. She was killed in Dachau concentration camp in 1944 by one bullet in the head. Her brother, Vilayat left his spiritual education to become a mine sweeper in the Navy. After barely surviving the war, he continued on his spiritual path and as leader of the International Sufi Order, promoted love and compassion between all people and religions of the world until his death in 2004. He is remembered warmly by all who knew him, and left behind him a series of books about Sufism and a son who now heads the Order in his name.

Hafiz, Sufi master and one of the most popular Persian poets (XIV c.), created subtle and unique works which have influenced intellectuals and artists for centuries. The bravery of this poet is his intentional breaking of the cliches of mind and convention, which is rare even today. Personal and direct, these poems remind the individual of his / her responsibility to creating the world as he / she would like it to be.
Hafiz paints all the faces of human nature: hate, jealousy, war, love, goodness, pride, conceitedness, vanity, compassion, in all their many appearances, showing infinite understanding for them all. He describes us, with generosity and humor, as we are, and paints us pictures of what we can become.
"These remarkable short poems are magic tricks - verbal sleights of hand - that cause the mind to blink and that replace the imagined perception of grief and woe with reality of joy". Sylvia Boorstein

The performance was realized with the support of the Secretary of Culture of Belgrade, in cooperation with Belgrade Drama Theatre