Ancient Greek tragedy ‘Hippolytus’ is on stage at Hafez Hall in Tehran.
Farzad Amini is directing the play, for which he has rewritten the dialogues from the only Persian translation available, a collection of plays by Greek playwright Euripides titled ‘Helen, Hippolytus, Alcestis and Ion’, translated by Mohammad Saeedi half a century ago.
“It is among Euripides’s (480–406 BC) deep, sad, philosophical works; but has not become as popular as ‘Medea’, another of his plays,” Amini told ISNA.
“Unlike Alcestis (another Athenian tragedy by Euripides) that has a silver lining at the end, Hippolytus end is heartbreaking and leaves behind a bitter taste. But I’m fond of Hippolytus, being able to identify with it more.”
The play is dynamic and it is the burst of activity that make up the dramatic moments in the play, Amini said.
“I have followed the traditions laid by masters such as Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874-1940), Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999), Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) and Julian Beck (1925-1985) who explored elements of physical theater and based their works on form and figure.”
Hippolytus is the 10th work presented by the Prometheus theater group. The cast include Bahram Abbasifard, Elnaz Esmailzadegan, Mohammad Reza Farzam, Sanaz Pourdashti, Majid Jor, Sorour Khosravani and Soroush Haeri.
‘Carmina Burana’ by Carl Orff, ‘Requiem’ by Giuseppe Verdi and also Alfred Schnittke’s ‘Requiem’ are among the compositions that accompany the play, which opened on June 29 and will run till July 8 at the venue on Shahriar Blvd, Hafez Avenue.
