Comedy Play on Depression, Miscommunication in Tehran

The play ‘Harvey’ written by the American playwright Mary Chase and directed by Melodi Aramnia is on stage at Iranshahr Theater in Tehran.

Written in 1944, the play is about an affable man who claims to have an unseen (and presumably imaginary) friend Harvey, described as a tall creature resembling a rabbit.

“Although a comedy, the work expresses facts about life, particularly the lack of communication and depression among people. The original play was written during the World War II, when undoubtedly the impact of war on people pushed up the depression rates to high levels,” Honaronline quoted Aramnia as saying.

The director said she has made some changes in the work to suit the modern day conditions. “What depresses people today is indeed nothing special; experts believe that people are moving away and getting distant from each other (and that can be the source of depression). We raised the issue in the play by showing the effect of technology on people’s lives in the modern world”.

Chase received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work in 1945. It has been adapted for film and television several times, most notably in a 1950 film of the same name starring the American actor James Stewart.

Mehdi Bejestani, Shaqayeq Dehqan, Masoumeh Rahmani, Kazem Sayahi, Ramin Sayar-Dashti, Yalda Abbasi, Masoud Keramati and Parham Yadollahi are in the cast.

In 2014 Aramnia had the stage reading of the play for charity with a different cast which was welcomed by the audience. “For the stage reading, the whole text was read by the actors which took over two hours, but for the current performance we have shortened the work to an hour and a half.”

The play will be on stage through December 18 at Iranshahr Theater located at Art Garden, Norht Mousavi St., Taleqani St.