The Caged Bird Sings

Mon: Closed
Tues: 10 am - 5:30 pm
Wed: 10 am - 8 pm
Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun: 10 am - 5:30 pm

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For 90 minutes, I was awed, moved and, like the play’s three main characters, left to sift through my memories that for so long have been locked away.”

– Toronto Star

Experience a re-imagining and radical adaptation of parts of Rumi’s Masnavi with a special presentation of The Caged Bird Sings, an original piece by Rouvan Silogix, Rafeh Mahmud, and Ahad Lakhani, presented by the Aga Khan Museum, in association with Theatre ARTaud. The Modern Times Stage Company production, performed in the round, features three prisoners — two star-crossed lovers and scientists Rumi and Jin — who share a cell with Sal, a mysterious vagrant. As they navigate their newfound reality and reconcile their past lives, they are haunted by ghosts and demons of their own making. The piece explores Sufi mysticism, ideas of Fanafillah, the prisons — literal and metaphorical — that we are put in, that we put ourselves in, and that we create ourselves, and how and whether it’s possible to escape such prisons.

Performed in the Museum’s Courtyard, this re-imagining, created by immigrant writers with roots in Pakistan, contemporizes Rumi in a way you have never seen before — staying true to his work and the spirit of his Sufi-mystical writings and art. Rumi’s work is confounding, demanding, witty, sharp, and unapologetic. This surreal re-imagining captivates readers, prompting them to question. It resonates with Toronto’s diverse audience while remaining faithful to the author’s acclaimed, now classic works.

The Museum’s Performing Arts programming is generously supported by the Nanji Family Foundation.