Iranian troupe to perform Ionesco’s “Bald Soprano” in native language
TEHRAN – (Iranart)- An Iranian troupe is planning to perform Romanian-French writer Eugene Ionesco’s play “The Bald Soprano” bilingual in Persian and French.
The play is scheduled to be staged at Tehran’s Neauphle-le-Chateau Theater during autumn, director Rahmat Amini told the Persian service of MNA on Sunday.
“The idea for staging a bilingual performance came to my mind after returning from my recent educational trip to France,” he said.
“I launched a workshop with a number of actors, who could speak French and some other people who are interested in such projects,” he added.
“The reasons why I decided to stage the play in French are that there are plays on words and language that hollows out profound concepts and these are among the topics of the play,” Amini noted.
Aspects of dualism can be perceived in the music, acting and set design of the project, he said.
“In foreign plays, which enjoy strata of comedy, I usually seek something that the plays have in common with Iranian dramas,” Amini stated.
“In this play, I found the plays on words and absurd characters, and we have tried to change the characters of the play to absurd Iranian characters, which are strongly reminiscent of characters in Ionesco’s plays,” he added.
He noted that if everything goes as well as is expected, the play has the potential to be performed in French-speaking countries.
Behruz Sarv-Alishahi, Pegah Moradi, Ayat Nattaj, Mona Abyaz and Yasaman Mirzai are members of the cast. Mehdi Amin-Lari also is collaborating in this project as a cast member and music composer.
Amini planned to stage “The Bald Soprano” in autumn 2020, but a new wave of COVID-19 in the country forced him to postpone his plan.
Written in 1950, “The Bald Soprano” centers on the Smiths, a couple from London, and another couple, the Martins, who come over for a visit.
The two families chatter in meaningless banter, tell stories and relate nonsensical truisms and poems. They are joined later by the Smiths’ maid, Mary, and the local fire chief, who is also Mary’s lover.
When the Martins and the Smiths are alone, they begin to argue without resolution or sense. The play ends with the Martins reciting the same lines spoken by the Smiths at the opening.
“The Bald Soprano” is considered a modern classic and a seminal work in the Theatre of the Absurd. It holds the world record for the play that has been staged continuously in the same theater for the longest time.
Several other Iranian directors have previously staged the play.
source: Tehran Times