A children’s play, ‘The Old Man and the Tiger,’ written by Ali Khakbazan and directed by Hasan Dadshekar, will be staged after the fasting month of Ramadan, which commences from June 18.
“The play depicts the story in the book published by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults,” Honaronline quoted Dadshekar as saying.
The drama is about an old man who comes across a tiger in a cramped cage. The old man’s heart softens and he releases the tiger after it begs and pleads. However, the ungrateful animal attempts to devour the man who begs the tiger to ask three other entities whether its action is right, before committing the act. The gazelle, bear, and rabbit run away when they realize the tiger is freed. The old man is finally saved by the trick of another human being.
The play epitomizes the duality of good and evil and sends the message to the audience that goodness is better than malevolence. “This conflict is very common in the modern world but you need to answer evil with good, or else evil will take over the world beyond redemption,” he said.
“As inhumane crimes are being committed the world over and modernity confines people within their own social circles, they have forgotten what it means to be kind and compassionate.”
Puppetry Act
Dadshekar said the play “will be a type of puppetry where actors wear animal costumes. Also, the characters will express and establish themselves through movements specific to their roles rather than dialogue. “For instance, the tiger will perform acrobatic moves,” he said.
A veteran children’s playwright and actor, Dadshekar graduated in Cinema and Theater at Tehran University of Art. He is known for directing the popular play, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’.
Noting that he has been trying to take the play on the stage since 2010, Dadshekar rued “there are not enough halls for children’s theater in the country, and that makes this field of performing arts lose appeal for the general public even though in can be extremely edifying for children and teenagers”.
Saeed Abak, Arash Shahrifzadeh, and Raheleh Shamsabadi are in the cast.
