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Biggest Theater Production for Children

Biggest Theater  Production for Children
Biggest Theater  Production for Children

A famous children’s fable is the theme of a stage production that is set to be the biggest theater production for children in the past 36 years.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, translated by Manouchehr Akbarloo will go on stage with a huge cast of 50 actors and actresses playing the roles, director of the play, Hamidreza Mollahosseini told ISNA.

A Middle Eastern folk tale, Aladdin is one of the tales in ‘The Book of One Thousand and One Nights’, and one of the best known—though it was actually added to the collection in the 18th century by Frenchman Antoine Galland.

Some of the cast are among renowned TV actors and their presence will be nostalgic for the older audiences.

“We have got permission for the performance from the translator of the work and the changes we made are mostly to the stage design and décor,” he said.

The production is still in the preliminary phases. During the pre-production phase, a play reading version of the work was staged in September 2015 at the 22nd International Children Theater Festival in Hamedan, one of the oldest Iranian cities and capital of Hamedan Province.

“The play was among the winners of the festival and that was a good reason for us to take up the project,” Mollahosseini said, adding that familiar faces and voices for children and adolescents such as Bahram Shahmohammadlou, participated in the play reading.

The rehearsals will begin in spring of the new Iranian year (starting March 21). Aladdin is likely to go on stage in late summer just before schools reopen for the next academic year (Sept.23).

The stage design and decor will be vivid and colorful to appeal to children’s taste and at the same time be practical for actors to move around.

“The music of the show will be a live performance and although there are no lyrics in the original text, we have decided to add some lyrics appropriate to the classical text of the story.”

The narration of Aladdin is more suitable for adolescents but “we have tried to adapt it to children’s literature so the meaning is conveyed while the children see an entertaining performance for 90 to 120 minutes,” he added.

 

Financialtribune.com