Theatre director Behrouz Gharibpour is planning to invite expatriate Iranian vocalists for his puppet show ‘Khayyam’.
Omar Khayyam is an acclaimed Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher and poet of the 11th century. He wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music and Islamic theology. He also contributed to reform in the Jalali calendar, a precursor to the current Iranian calendar and had an immense and lasting influence on Persian poetry and Sufism.
Given Khayyam’s wide popularity, Gharibpour said, “I’ve decided to invite Iranian-origin foreign vocalists to perform some of Khayyam’s quatrains (a Persian poetry style) in English, German and Arabic.”
The show is about Khayyam from the moment he reached mental, philosophical and scientific maturity.
Preparations for the show are underway and the approximate cost of the project, nearly $75,000, is under discussion at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, he said, hoping that it would be sponsored by the Performing Arts Center, Roudaki Foundation and the ministry’s art bureau.
Musician Amir Behzad is slated to be the composer of the show.
Gharibpour, 65, is a pioneer of traditional Persian puppet theatre.
He studied theatre at Tehran University and at the Dramatic Arts Academy in Rome (Silvio D’Amico). He founded the Tehran and Esfahan puppet theatre centers and helped establish Iran’s Cultural Center in Tehran.
He has vast experience in writing and directing in fields such as puppet theatre, cinema, documentary movies, and TV serials. He is also known for his research on Iranian puppetry during the Qajar era.
