The play 'Chamber Music' directed by Mehsi Alinejad is on stage at Tehran's Master Fannizadeh Hall.
Written by the American absurdist playwright Arthur Kopit, 'Chamber Music' is a 1962 one-act play staged for the first time in Iran, Azad News Agency reported.
The setting is a mental asylum in 1938 where eight women are interned and all but one believe they are famous women from different historical periods including the American author Gertrude Stein, French martyr Joan of Arc, American activist Susan B. Anthony, Spanish politician Queen Isabella I of Castille, American silent-film actress Pearl White, American explorer Osa Johnson and Constanze Mozart (wife of the famed Austrian composer). Only one of them is the exact person she claims to be, Amelia Earhart of the US who was the first woman to become a pilot, and murdered by the other women in the end as they understand she is different from them.
The young director, who is a student of dramatic literature, believes that the play "has social and psychological aspects" which is still prevalent in the modern day.
The work is a mix of a realistic classical play and performance. While in some scenes actors play normally according to the original script, in some others they have no dialogues and just convey the feeling of the scene through body performance, Alinejad noted.
The play is meant to also symbolize the sexist and unjust treatment of women throughout history.
The cast includes Sara Daruforoush, Mojdeh Giveki, Sotudeh Khayati, Elaheh Mouchani, Azadeh Nosrati, Shima Asadi, Sara Amerinia, Sadaf Nazari and Abbas Dousti.
Kopit, 79, is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist - for his play 'Indians' (1970) and 'Wings' (1979) - and a three-time Tony Award nominee: 'Indians', 'Wings' and 'Nine' (1982). He won the Drama Desk Award in 1962 and was nominated for it in 1979.
The play will run through September 10 at the hall, located at No. 2, Maragheh Alley, Villa Street, Enqelab Avenue.
