Adel Bezdoudeh on An incident in the city of puppets

"An Incident in the City of Dolls" which still delights young and child audiences of puppet shows and arouses their active participation, is a turning point in the history of Iranian puppet shows. This work was created in 1970 by Oscar Batek, an artist and teacher of puppet theater from Czechoslovakia, with a group consisting of Marzieh Borumand, Reza Babak, Bahram Shahmohammadlou, Sosan Farrokhnia, Alireza Hedaei, and accompanied by Ardeshir Keshavarzi  as a translator, in Center for the Intellectual Development of Child and Adolescent went on stage and introduced Iranian theater artists to puppet show. Adel Bezdoudeh was also a member of this group.

Keshavarzi served as a translator for and simultaneously studied for two years under the Czech puppeteer Oscar Batek, who had been invited to the Dramatic Arts University to open the puppet theatre major.

 

In 1974, Keshavarzi and Batek’s Markaze-e teatre-e arousaki (Centre for Puppet Theatre) activated puppet theatre alongside children and adult theatre groups at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA; in Persian: Kanoon-e Parvaresh-e Fekri-e Koodakan va Nojavanan). Incidents in the City of Puppets, Little Red Riding Hood, and Nokhodi were their collaborations. Keshavarzi assumed leadership after Batek of Markaze-e teatre-e arousaki from 1974 to 1980 and trained many teachers in puppetry.

 

I think that providing the opportunity for the participation of the young audience and children in the performance of this show and the possibility of seeing and hearing their remarkable reactions and answers to the questions of the performers are among the points that have kept this show alive since its first performance in Iran since 1972.

I am very happy that another opportunity was provided for me, Adel Bezdoudeh, with over 50 years of experience in the field of children's and youth theater, especially in the world of puppetry, to stage a show that I think is one of the most amazing puppetry play.. I had the good fortune to be part of the group that staged "An Incident in the City of Dolls" as the first modern puppet show in the intellectual development center for children and adolescents in 1972. A show that still has something to say with the same energy. A simple yet powerful play that not only attracts children,  but also provides a platform  for their  contributions and the possibility of seeing their  reactions and hearing their  answers in a brilliant way. Children and teenagers watch the show in minutes of silence and in other minutes with the most energetic and the highest level of emotions participate in the process of the story. In my opinion, this is the most important point that can be made about "Incident in the City of the puppets"; The fact that the performer does not ask the audience to just sit and watch him conveys the feeling that his presence is effective and energizing and plays an important role in deciding the fate of the character.

 

What was the reaction of the young audience and children to this show in the cities of Iran in those years?

This is very valuable to me. We staged this show in the most remote parts of Iran, where the children of farmers, shepherds, etc. families watched us and we got exactly the same feeling from them that you saw in our audience on first of July, 2023. In fact, this work does not demarcate its audience in any way, and it does not matter which geographic point the audience lives in, it provides contribution for audience active participation.

Did you have a special challenge to attend the festival?

I am sorry that when I presented the idea of "An Incident in the City of puppets" to the 19th Tehran-Mubarak International Puppet Festival, the selection committee  of  children's section did not accept it until I spoke with Hadi Hejazifar, the festival's secretary, and he provided this opportunity and we  brought it on stage in the guest section. I am happy that all those involved in the festival are puppet artists. This is one of the most important positive points of the festival, that the whole mechanism arranged by Hadi Hijazifar is being carried out by the  puppet artists and those who are concerned about puppet shows.