Curtains go up for Fadjr theater festival in Iran

The 36th edition of the Fadjr International Theater Festival has been opened at different venues across Tehran.

The festival commenced on January 18, 2018, to host performances by dozens of troupes from Iran and other countries.

Some 200 troupes from Iran and other countries have been scheduled to perform during the event, while 89 performances were selected for the first day.

Iranian director Mahmoud-Reza Karimi has been set to stage Bertolt Brecht’s ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ at Tehran’s City Theater Complex on the first night.

A troupe of young actors directed by Masoud Delkhah has been scheduled to perform an adaption from German writer Klaus Mann’s novel ‘Mephisto’ at Molavi Hall.

Peter Weiss’s ‘Marat/Sade’ directed by Iman Eskandari was selected for staging at Hafez Hall and ‘The History Boys’ by Ashkan Khilnejad at Iranshahr Theater Complex.

‘Entre-Cabanes’ by Ramona Poenaru and Gael Chaillat from France has been piched to go on stage at Tehran Book Garden. It is a multimedia installation, which invites the public to experience the practice of architecture.

Nineteen plays have been selected to go on stage at the international section, including Shusaku Takeuchi’s ‘The Package’ and Christopher Ruping’s ‘Hamlet’, both from Germany.

From France, ‘Shirtology’ by Jérome Bel, ‘Laundry of legends’ by Jassem Hindi, and ‘Too Loud a Solitude’ by Paris-based Iranian director Afshin Ghaffarian were picked to compete at the international section.

The international section also includes ‘Bigmouth’ by Valentijn Dhaenens from Belgium, ‘Invisible Cities’ by Pino Di Buduo from Italy, and ‘Guilty Landscapes’ by Dries Verhoeven from the Netherlands.

A number of plays from Brazil, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Iraq, Georgia and Greece form the other performances of the event.

Leman Yilmaz from Turkey, Lucia van Heteren from the Netherlands, Niklaus Helbling from Switzerland, and Fatemeh Motamed-Arya and Behzad Qaderi, both from Iran, are at the jury panel of the international section.

Nader Borhani-Marand and Mohsen Alikhani from Iran, as well as Qorbon-Ali Nusrat-Sabir from Tajikistan are the jury members of the national section.

The Fadjr International Theater Festival was established in 1983. It occurs annually in Iran, featuring local and international theatrical works and performers.

The festival is held along with the Fajr Celebrations, which marks the anniversary of the ten days from the return of Imam Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, to Iran (February 1) until the victory day of the Islamic Revolution (February 11) in 1979.

The 36th edition of the event, with the motto “The Celebration of Dialogue in Iran’s Celebration”, is slated for January 18-29, 2018.

MG/MMF