Ramtin Parvaneh and Parham on the piece “Don’t say anything to your mother”

“I like guys!” says the little brother when a flirtatious girl gets up the courage to confess her love to him.

The little brother stands up for her, but does he dare to do the same in his family?

The scene is from “Säg inget till mamma”, a play that premiered at the Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Skärholmen in Stockholm. The story is about finding yourself in the middle of the emotional hustle and bustle of teenage life and having the courage to be who you are – fully.

The focus is on two lost brothers and their loving mother, and it quickly becomes clear that they have a background marked by war, flight and trauma. The bills are piling up, the worries are great and with the absent father there is also a male role. While the siblings have fun recording dance clips for TikTok in which they wear high heels to the tune of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” they are forced to navigate a pushy, macho culture.

When the play, aimed primarily at young people, was auditioned for a group of teenagers, director and screenwriter Ramtin Parvaneh experienced an unexpected reaction.

– They asked: “Macho, what does it mean, is it a stable Shunno?” and I just “no, no, no,” he says, shaking his head and smiling.

The test audience also had opinions on other formulations.

– They say “sho” or “achi” instead of “brother” and “are you connecting?” instead of “do you understand?” And they don’t say “brain drain,” they say “psychosis,” he continues.

In addition, they offered another expression that he adopted in the script: “the hand on Mecca,” which has the same meaning as “the hand on the heart.”

Ramtin Parvaneh is an actor basically and appeared in television series such as “Couples Therapy in Gangnef” and “Kommissarie Winter”. He has also worked at the Angereds Theater and the Backa Theater in Gothenburg, among others. The idea for the piece, which marks his debut as a screenwriter, comes from the 41-year-old’s childhood in Hisingen in Gothenburg.

-In elementary school I went to a very white school, but in middle and high school it was more mixed. Then I suddenly heard Farsi being spoken in the school hallways. In the midst of all this, I felt, “Who am I? Who do I want to be? Must I be?” “I was a chameleon who adapted to all different spaces,” he says.

We meet in the middle of rehearsals at the Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Skärholmen. Lights and sounds are tested and wires are lowered from the ceiling to launch one of the characters into the air during a flying scene. The actors walk up and down and practice their lines on a huge tower of household appliances that forms the stage set.

The brothers in the story are based on a pair of siblings with whom Ramtin Parvaneh spent his childhood.

– My older sister was with the older one of them, so me and his little brother could hang out when they went out. But when we hung out, we somehow always played charades, we weren’t ourselves. Many years later, I met him again, and then he introduced me to his friend, says Ramtin Parvaneh.

When he expresses his creative ideas, he often listens to music, and one artist who gets back on the headphones is rapper Parham, also an 80s artist from Gothenburg. Now Parham Pazooki sings two of the songs featured in the piece.

– I recognized myself so much in Ramtin’s story, says Parham.

– My entire first album is a coming-of-age story about a man who is actually kind and emotional, but who feels pressure to do things that are expected of men, like being tough, hiding his feelings, and succumbing to peer pressure. Things have gotten better now. People are talking more about macho culture and there are TV shows like “Shaolin Heroes” that challenge and try to get to the bottom of what’s rubbing off on today’s masculinity, Parham says.

An essential part The core of the story in “Säg inget til mamma” is how an escape continues to shape the family even after they have settled in the new country. One problem disappears, but a thousand arise – and there is not always room to talk about the wounds. In the play, the mother is left alone with all her duties when her husband disappears.

Parham wrote the song “Please Yourself,” which he describes as “a distress call” from Little Brother to Mother. It’s a plea for her to take care of herself after giving everything to her children. Parham describes it as “a sign that fell for him.”

– I came to the conclusion that tributes to mothers are rare. I wrote about the absent father, about the macho culture, the problems on the street. “Everything but the realization that despite all the crap my mother went through, all she had was love to give,” he says, continuing:

– Nevertheless, she can still apologize to this day for not having a good upbringing. Then I feel sad and moved. She shouldn’t apologize, it was other circumstances and people that led to this.

Read more about the spring stage performances