A play titled ‘Lost in Yonkers’ - based on a play of the same title written by American playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon - is being staged at the Bazigah Theater in Tehran, but with a difference.
“I changed the tragedy theme of the original play into comedy, for the public,” said its director Shabnam Haghtalab, noting: “Although the story depicts tragic events in a family, the destinies of the family members riddled with amusement shown towards the end, provides a humorous atmosphere,” Mehr news agency quoted her as saying.
It is the story of a Jewish family migrating to the U.S. during the Second World War. In spite of the efforts made by a grandmother - a very old and stern woman, owing to her harsh childhood - to rear her children in a devotional way, one becomes a thief and the other, eccentric.
“As a realistic play, the story unravels in a living room, visualizing a home atmosphere. When the two grandchildren meet their grandma, they find a new approach to family life,” she said, adding that the play has been welcomed by the audiences.
Award Winner
Born in 1927, Simon has written more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly adaptations of his plays. He has received more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer.
His style ranged from romantic comedy to farce to more serious dramatic comedy. Overall, he has garnered 17 Tony nominations and won three. Winning the Pulitzer Prize - an award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States - for drama in 1991 for ‘Lost in Yonkers’, he became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre named after him.
The play will be staged until March 11, at Bazigah Theater located at 4th floor, No. 12, Mortezazadeh st., Kabkanian st., Keshavarz blvd.
