The Iranian play ‘Only the First Dog Knows Why it is Barking’ directed by theater director Ebrahim Poshtkuhi will go on stage in Munich, Germany, early February.
A production of Titowak Theater Group, the musical comedy blends the Zar ritual of Iran’s southern Hormozgan Province with William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy ‘Macbeth’, Honaronline reported.
It won the award of the New Experience Section at the 28th Tehran International Theater Festival in 2009. It was also awarded the best theater ensemble and best performance in Moscow Nights Theater Festival in 2012. Moreover, it took part in Armenia’s HighFest Theater Festival and was invited to France’s Avignon Festival.
Zar is an ancient ritual in Hormozgan Province, on the coast of the Persian Gulf in southern Iran, which is still practiced. The musical ritual is used for healing the ‘victims of the wind.’ According to beliefs of the natives, there exists a maleficent force driven by the winds that is able to penetrate fragile bodies.
The cast includes Davoud Eslami, Behrouz Abbas-Dashti, Hussein Asli, Behnam Paeizeh, Elham Eskandari, Sara Shahi, Peyman Bakhshi and Behrang Abbaspur.
Since its establishment in 1997, Titowak Theater Group has been trying to incorporate local traditions and rituals in theatrical performances hoping to preserve the cultural heritage.
In addition to ‘Macbeth’, they have so far combined traditions with known and famous classical plays and stories including ‘Divine Comedy’, a long poem by the classical Italian poet Dante (1265-1321) and ‘Like Water for Chocolate’, a 1989 novel written by Mexican author Laura Esquivel.
