Gurshad Shaheman

Gurshad Shaheman, an associate artist at the Théâtre Les Tanneurs since July 2019, has made a name for himself both in France and in Belgium. He has appeared in numerous shows and, at the same time, has been writing and directing his own shows since 2015. His work is based on a leitmotiv: life stories.

After training at the Ecole Régionale d’Acteur de Cannes (ERAC), Gurshad Shaheman went on to work as an actor, assistant director and Persian translator with Thierry Bédard, Reza Baraheni, Thomas Gonzalez and Catherine Marnas. Since 2012, with the support of Julie Kretzschmar and the festival Les Rencontres à l’échelle, he has written and interpreted his performances, the first three of which are collected under the title Pourama Pourama. This triptych was cited in Les Inrocks as one of the 5 best shows of 2015. In addition, he is an active member of the “Bas Nylons” cabarets directed by Jean Biche in Brussels, and he produces his own shows under the label “Cabaret Dégenré”. In 2017, he was awarded the Villa Médicis Hors les Murs – Institut français, and is supported by the Phenix, scène nationale Valenciennes as part of the Campus du Pôle Européen de la Création. In addition, he is an associate artist at the Manège de Maubeuge.

In 2017, Gurshad traveled to Athens and Beirut to meet LGBT refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, collecting their life stories and entrusting them to professional actors. This project resulted in a show entitled Il pourra toujours dire que c’est pour l’amour du prophète, which premiered at the Avignon Festival in 2018. That same year, he acted in AK47, an adaptation of Oliver Rohe’s novel, directed by Perrine Maurin, with whom he regularly works as an actor and playwright. He performed in Racine’s Andromaque, staged by Damien Chardonnet-Darmaillacq. In January 2020, he played in A Bright Room Called Day by American playwright Tony Kushner, directed by Catherine Marnas (Théâtre National Bordeaux-Aquitaine).

In October 2019, Gurshad Shaheman created La Ligne d’Ombre, a company for which he is artistic director and whose head office is located in Favril, in the heart of Avesnois in Hauts-de-France.

In April 2021, for the first time on the Belgian circuit, he created the show Silent Disco, featuring young non-professionals who have suffered a rupture with their families. That same year, he created Les Forteresses, which evokes the memories and testimonies of his mother and his two aunts.