Banafsheh Riazi, Director of the show "This was life" on financing the show and her experience
Iran Theater- Banafsheh Riazi, the director of the play "This Was Life," emphasized that the performance was written and rehearsed in a workshop approach, and considered such a process helpful for the director, despite the many difficulties.
Banafsheh Riazi, director of the play "This Was Life," written by Mahmoud Ahadinia and Mahmoud Khosroparast, which has been on stage at the Ostad Entezami Hall of the Artists' Forum since February 20, explained the rehearsal and performance process for this work.
Regarding the process of forming the idea, the director said: Mahmoud Ahadinia offered me the initial idea and it was about the life and relationships of students in the dormitory. Considering the number of actors we had, we rehearsed for 5 months, during that time I was writing the play and making many edits, until i reached the final performance that is now on stage.
She continued: “I am not very interested in ready-made and translated play that we may have seen good performances of it before, and I prefer a play that I can perform on stage for the first time. Also, since most of my actors were also having their first experience on stage, the workshop format of writing and practicing for the performance helped me to move forward based on their abilities and benefit from their ideas. Although this process has many difficulties, I think it is more progressive.
Riazi said: "I had no experience living in a dormitory, and I tried to gain information by contacting people who had lived in dormitory. Of course, the writers and a number of my actors experienced this dormitory life, and it helped us a lot in the process of advancing the story and creating the atmosphere."