A tragedy ‘Curse of the Starving Class,’ directed by Faramarz Ramezanian, is currently on stage at the Iranian Artists’ Forum’s Entezami Theater Hall in Tehran.
A 1978 work by Sam Shepard, the play is considered the first in a series on family tragedies. Some critics consider it part of a family trilogy, which includes ‘Buried Child’ (1979) and ‘True West’ (1980).
“It balances dark comedy and biting satire in its look at a family fight,” Mehr News Agency quoted Ramezanian as saying.
Sam Shepard, 73, is an American playwright, actor, author, screenwriter and director, whose works span over half a century.
The play focuses on the disturbed Tate family, the drunken father, burned-out mother, rebellious teenage daughter, and idealistic son, as they struggle for control of the rundown family farm in a futile search for freedom, security, and ultimately a meaning in their lives.
The script has a linear sequence of events, yet in performance, “we see a non-linear sequence and puzzle-like plot. Some parts of the original play were deleted reducing the performance to 70 minutes from 180.”
The play was earlier staged in 2012 when the text was translated literally, at times presenting absurd sentences, said Ramezanian. In the current performance, “we provided a new translated script with the support of Ashkan Khatibi, professional theater artist, who is familiar with Shepard’s works.”
Sepehr Tehranchi, Raha Moqaddam, Sara Karimian, Ehsan Bayatfar, Behnam Momeni, Babak Jafarieh and Danial Mohseni, graduates of Samandarian Acting Institute in Tehran, are the cast.
The play will be on stage until March 15 at the IAF hall, located at South side of Honar Garden, North Sahid Mousavi St., Taleqani Avenue.
