The Cord - Paperback

by Bijan Sheibani (Author)

Ash and Anya were happy, just the two of them. Then the baby came.

Ash has spent the first two weeks of his son's life trying to work out where he fits. He watches his mother holding her grandchild for the first time, mesmerized by the mystery and delight of a new life. After she leaves, Ash watches Anya feeding their son - so close, almost intertwined.

As sleepless nights, relentless crying and hushed arguments take their toll, a storm starts to grow as a chasm widens between Ash and his son, his wife and even his own mother.

Lifting the roof off one family's home, The Cord is a brutally honest and moving insight into the challenging truths of family dynamics. It premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2024, written and directed by Bijan Sheibani.

Author Biography

Bijan Sheibani is a freelance theatre, opera and film director, and playwright.

As a playwright, his work includes The Cord (Bush Theatre, London, 2024) and The Arrival (Bush Theatre, 2019).

As a theatre director, his credits include Till the Stars Come Down (National Theatre), The Brothers Size (Young Vic), Dance Nation (Almeida), Barber Shop Chronicles (National Theatre) and Circle Mirror Transformation (Home Manchester).

He was an associate director of the National Theatre from 2010-2015, and artistic director of ATC from 2007-2010. He won the James Menzies-Kitchen Award for Young Directors in 2003 and held the John S Cohen Bursary at the National Theatre Studio from 2003-2004. He was nominated for an Olivier Award in 2010 for Best Director for his production of Our Class, and his production of Gone Too Far! by Bola Agbaje won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre in 2008. The Brothers Size won Best International Production at the Barcelona Critics Circle Awards 2008 and was nominated for an Olivier Award in the same year. Bijan's production of Nothing for Glyndebourne was nominated for a 2017 Southbank Sky Arts Award for Best Opera.