Javaad Alipoor
{{Short description|British-Iranian writer}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Javaad Alipoor.jpg
| caption = Alipoor at The Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh 2023
| birth_name =
| birth_date = September 1984
| birth_place =
| alma_mater = University of Bradford
| occupation =
| years_active = 2012–present
| spouse = Natalie Diddams
}}
Javaad Alipoor (born September 1984) is a British-Iranian theatre-maker and writer from Bradford.{{Cite web |title=Javaad Alipoor Company: the Manchester theatre group crossing borders with international stories |url=https://www.manchesterworld.uk/news/javaad-alipoor-company-the-manchester-theatre-group-crossing-boundaries-with-international-stories-3786721}} His work explores the interactions between technology and society, inviting audiences to engage with the kinds of technologies which shape how knowledge is created, shared and contested.{{Cite web |title=Javaad Alipoor: 'Our shows ask what the tech we use reveals about how we examine the world' |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/javaad-alipoor-our-shows-ask-what-the-tech-we-use-reveals-about-how-we-examine-the-world |access-date=2023-08-26 |website=The Stage |language=En}}
Early life
Alipoor was born to an Iranian Shia Muslim father who fled the Shah regime and an English Catholic working class mother and grew up on a council estate in Bradford.{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@zuzannafiminska/iranian-in-england-english-in-iran-interview-with-javaad-alipoor-9ae0b270c5cf|title=Iranian in England, English in Iran: Interview with Javaad Alipoor|website=Medium|first=Zuzanna|last=Fiminska|date=29 November 2018|accessdate=18 April 2024}} Alipoor studied Regeneration Project Management at University of Bradford and is a member of University Court there.{{Cite web |date=2023-03-03 |title=Meet the writer who will host Anita Rani's installation as Chancellor |url=https://www.bradford.ac.uk/news/archive/2023/meet-the-writer-who-will-host-anita-ranis-installation-as-chancellor-.php |access-date=2023-08-26 |website=University of Bradford |language=en}} He then pursued a Masters; his thesis was about psychoanalysis and Sufism.{{Cite web|url=https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2021/04/19/the-job-of-complicating-an-interview-with-javaad-alipoor-part-i/|title=19 April 2021|website=Artists and Climate Change|date=19 April 2021 |accessdate=18 April 2024}}
Career
Alipoor has worked as a social worker and as resident associate director at Sheffield theatres and creative projects manager at Royal & Derngate theatre.{{Cite news |last1=Gardner |first1=Lyn |last2=@lyngardner |date=2017-08-15 |title=Javaad Alipoor: 'The response to radicalism is to shut down debate for young people' |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/15/javaad-alipoor-the-believers-are-but-brothers-edinburgh-show-interview |access-date=2023-08-26 |issn=0261-3077}} His eponymous theatre company was established in 2017.{{Cite web |title=the company – Javaad Alipoor Company |url=https://javaadalipoor.co.uk/the-company/ |access-date=2023-08-26 |language=en}}
Alipoor has won two Scotsman Fringe First Awards {{Cite web |date=2023-08-15 |title=Things Hidden Since The Foundation of the World |url=https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event/things-hidden-since-the-foundation-of-the-world-festival-23 |access-date=2023-08-26 |website=Traverse Theatre |language=en}} (For 'Believers are But Brothers' 2017 and 'Rich Kids: A history of Shopping Malls in Tehran' 2019) and has been hosted at The Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Festivals{{Cite news |last=Love |first=Catherine |date=2022-11-04 |title=Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World review – a theatrical revelation |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/nov/04/things-hidden-since-the-foundation-of-the-world-review-a-theatrical-revelation |access-date=2023-08-26 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |title=Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran |url=https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event/rich-kids |access-date=2023-08-26 |website=Traverse Theatre |language=en}}
Writing
'The Believers Are But Brothers' takes its title from a quote in the Qur’an and concerns online radicalisation and how young disaffected men access Islamic State propaganda sites and 4Chan {{Cite journal |last=Scott |first=Joanne |date=2020-05-03 |title=Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran' and The Believers Are but Brothers - digital lack and excess in a postdigital age |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14794713.2020.1761680 |journal=International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media |language=en |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=134–149 |doi=10.1080/14794713.2020.1761680 |s2cid=218951973 |issn=1479-4713|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite web |title=The Believers Are But Brothers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2019/13/bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2019/13/the-believers-are-but-brothers/ |access-date=2023-08-26 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en}}
In 'Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran' Alipoor performs with Peyvand Sadeghian{{Cite web |last=Columnist |first=Guest |date=2023-08-17 |title='I exist as two people': Peyvand Sadeghian lays bare the politics of identity |url=https://www.bigissue.com/culture/theatre/i-exist-as-two-people-peyvand-sadeghian-lays-bare-the-politics-of-identity/ |access-date=2023-08-26 |website=The Big Issue |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-06-20 |title=Stranded in Iran: How one refugee's experience shaped her career |url=https://www.euronews.com/culture/2022/06/20/stranded-in-iran-refugee-theatre-maker-peyvand-sadeghian-on-the-experience-that-shaped-her |access-date=2023-08-26 |website=euronews |language=en}} using YouTube and Instagram to tell stories of how Iran's young, wealthy elite live extravagant lifestyles on social media.{{Cite news |last=Fisher |first=Mark |date=2019-08-02 |title=Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran review – dazzling and discombobulating |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/aug/02/rich-kids-a-history-of-shopping-malls-in-tehran-review-traverse-edinburgh |access-date=2023-08-26 |issn=0261-3077}}
Alipoor's play 'Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World' {{Cite web |title=Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World |url=https://homemcr.org/production/things-hidden-since-the-foundation-of-the-world/ |access-date=2023-08-26 |website=HOME |language=en-GB}} (not to be confused with Girard's Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World
Personal life
Alipoor lives in Manchester with his wife Natalie Diddams.{{Cite journal|url= https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/07/lifestyle/javaad-alipoor-spicy-thai-food-crying-planes-privilege-working-different-places/|title=Javaad Alipoor on spicy Thai food, crying on planes, and the privilege of working in different places|journal=The Boston Globe|first=Juliet|last=Pennington|date=7 January 2021|accessdate=18 April 2024}} He speaks fluent Persian. In 2018, Alipoor said he is not religious, but does take part in local Shia cultural events.