Pirouzfar Will Restage ‘Matryoshka’ at Paliz Theater

Actor and theater director Parsa Pirouzfar will restage ‘Matryoshka’, from July 30 at Paliz Theater in Tehran

Based on eight short stories by the famous Russian playwright and short story writer Anton Chekhov, the upcoming work, written and directed by Pirouzfar, is a one-actor-play in which he performs all the characters in the eight episodes, Mehr News Agency reported.

This is the third time Pirouzfar is staging the play in Tehran. He first performed it last August and following the rousing reception restaged it in January.

For his unique performance in Matryoshka where he acts in all the roles of the 39 characters, Pirouzfar received the best actor award at the 35th Fajr International Theater Festival in Tehran.

Pirouzfar convincingly carries out the dialogues in the various roles as father, mother, doctor, tutor, priest, widow, attorney, comedian, barber, policeman, salesman, general, judge and convict, among many others.

By changing his demeanor and the tone of his voice for every character, he makes the dialogues in each episode so convincing that the two-hour performance is absorbing till the end.

Although Chekhov’s stories are not related to each other, Pirouzfar has skillfully connected the characters in a way that each role in one story merges into the next.

It is like each story comes out of the previous one similar to the handmade doll Matryoshka, also known as a Russian nesting doll, which is a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another. That’s how the play gets its title ‘Matryoshka’.

Before performing in Tehran, Pirouzfar, 45, staged the play in Los Angeles, San Diego, Berkeley, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal from September 2015-May 2016.

A graduate of painting from the University of Tehran, Pirouzfar, 44, made his film debut by playing a brief role in Dariush Mehrjui’s ‘Pari’ in 1994.

His résumé as a theater director includes Yasmina Reza’s play ‘Art’ in 2001, David Mamet’s ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ in 2011, Marie Jones’ ‘Stones in His Pockets’ in 2013 and ‘At Sea’ by Slawomir Mrozek. Besides directing, Pirouzfar has acted in the plays as well. He has been teaching acting courses since 2004.

He has played in over 20 films, plays and TV series and won several awards including the Best Actor Award in the Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian Cinema, India, 2005 for ‘Tear of Cold’.

The play will be on stage for a month at Paliz Theater, located at No. 69, Sepand St., South Azodi St., Karimkhan St.