Renowned Iranian theater artist, playwright and director Kourosh Narimani will stage two shows at ‘Goteborgs Dramatiska Teater’ in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 10.
‘Nights of Avignon’ is one of the plays, which casts a deconstructive look at traditional theater, presenting the main idea through puppet performance art, Mehr News agency reported.
It is the story of an Iranian troupe who wants to perform a puppet show at The Avignon Festival of Theater in France. However, all of a sudden, at the end of the show, the dolls come to life and refuse to go back to their coffers.
The play was staged in Tehran’s Iranshahr Hall in 2012 and bagged eight prizes at the Fajr International Theater Festival (1999) including the prize for the best direction and best dramatic text.
‘Hypophysis’, the other play, rewritten by Narimani, is a paraphrase of the 1971 play, ‘Star Spangled Girl’ by contemporary American playwright, screenwriter and author Neil Simon.
A romantic comedy, the story is a love triangle, mixed with politics. Andy and Norman are radicals who barely make a living working on their magazine, ‘Fallout’, which is dedicated to fighting ‘the system’ in America. Sophie, a former Olympic swimmer, is an American girl who moves into the apartment next door. It’s love at first sight (or, as the play has it, first smell) for Norman, but his feelings are not reciprocated. Norman’s obsession with Sophie makes Andy hire her just to keep the magazine going. Then Sophie falls for Andy, though they are at odds politically, threatening to destroy the magazine and the men’s friendship.
The play was staged in 2015 at Tehran’s Shams Theater Hall, by Ramin Naser-Nasir, Bahram Afshari, and Behnaz Naderi.
Narimani, 47, has a bachelor’s degree in performing art from the Faculty of Cinema and Theater at Tehran University of Art and a master’s degree in directing from the Teacher Training University.
Plays ‘Scarecrow’ (1985), ‘Moonlight’ (1991), ‘Don Camillo’ (2005), and ‘The Good Soldier Svejk’ (2006) are among his numerous works.
