Good Muslim Boy

Overview

Osamah Sami has had an interesting life. Born in Iran to Iraqi parents, by the time he was a teenager he'd survived conflict and war, sold fireworks on the Iranian black market and run afoul of the country's religious police. Things didn't get any less complicated after his family emigrated to Australia, with Sami faking his Year 12 result so he could get into medicine, and later escaping an arranged marriage by literally running away on his wedding day.

If that last part sounds familiar, it's because it was the plot of his recent film Ali's Wedding (one of our favourites of 2017). And we suspect it might come up in his latest project, a stage adaptation of his autobiographical novel Good Muslim Boy.

On stage at the Malthouse Theatre from February 9 until March 11, the play chronicles Sami's extraordinary life as well as the struggles he faced trying to bring his father's body back to Australia after he died on a trip to Iran.

Image: Zan Wimberley.