Behrouz Gharibpour on Theater
Iran Theater-Behrouz Gharibpour is an Iranian theatre director and pioneer of traditional Persian puppet theatre. He studied theatre at Tehran University and at Dramatic Arts Academy in Rome. He founded Tehran and Esfahan puppet theatre centres and changed Tehran's slaughterhouse into the greatest Iran's Cultural Centre
His latest work was the show "Ashura Puppet Opera" that had been on stage in Vahdat Hall last year.
How was last year for you in terms of work and artistic activity?
A great artistic event happened to me last year. After a decade and a half of performing opera in Ferdowsi Hall and hiding the puppeteers and seeing the puppets being performed perfectly, I started an unconventional break and then directed the "Ashura Opera" on the exposed structure in Vahdat Hall. That means you saw both the puppeteer and the puppet. This was something that I dreamed of doing outside of Iran for several years. I suggested to a festival that I was invited to before the pandemic, to perform the Ashura opera or any other opera in this way. Fortunately, this idea was very well received. This movement was a praise of the puppeteers who performed artistically in different operas over the years but were hidden from the audience.
In the form of a puppet opera, you have praised many Persian poets and writers, as well as religious and historical subjects such as the Ashura event. Before this, you have performed and researched theater for adults and puppet and puppet shows and even made a documentary film about the art of puppetry. What suggestions do you have to reconcile people with the ancient and traditional rituals of Iran through theater and cinema?
-I do not only praise poets, but even in "Ashura Puppet Opera", I praised what Mohtashem Kashani did as a poet, that is, he who was one of the disciples of Imam Hossein (AS), century I brought him to Karbala event so that he would become an active and defensive person in the Karbala incident. Therefore, the show " Ashura" is also in praise of a poet, , because I believe that every poet whom became my subjects, they stayed beyond time. But about dealing with the ancient and traditional rituals of Iran, I must say that it is not the only issue of dealing with ancient and ritual roots. The main issue is reconciling the audience with the theater. Many people are still afraid of the theater and think that the theater belongs to a certain class, and this special class is intellectuals and book readers. I attracted a large number of audiences to the theater by performing the plays "Les Misérables" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin".Therefore, my concern has not changed since I entered the world of theater at the age of fourteen, and that was to attract the audience as much as possible.
What is your wish for culture and art in the new year?
While they valued artists all over the world and gave them unemployment insurance. During the pandemic, when we could not perform at all, naturally, if a society needs us, it should have kept us, But we were not helped for such a difficult time. Therefore, my wish is that the authorities understand again that theater is not a fun thing., So in the sense of effective and thoughtful theater, it is part of the elements of development and preservation of the culture in the society. So far, I have not seen any official who understood the importance of this matter.