Trans-modern theatre

Also, trans-modern script has limited number of words. Sometimes, it has only one word. If possible, trans-modern theatre tries to eliminate prepositions, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech that were later added to language and rely on the meaning of nouns and names. In fact, the structure of the sentences of a script tends to become more limited so that the meaning of theatre is conveyed without relying upon tenses and positions. In this theatre, any person or object can play a role as a part of existence. Finally, trans-modern theatre wants to not consider itself, theatre, and generally art as a profession.  

Hamidreza Ardalan was born in 1959 in Sanandaj, a city in Iran’s Kurdistan. Learning music and theatre in 1965, he started his artistic activity and started working professionally in the area of puppet theatre and music in 1985. He pursued his academic education to PHD level in the majors of philosophy, etymology, music and theatre. He is now the president of Iran Unima (Union International de la marionette), professor at university and the artistic manager of Iran Artists House and has staged over 60 plays and puppet plays around the world. He is the founder of the Alphabet and Puppet Theatre troupe. In the area of music, he is a composer in Trans-modern style and the founder of Tehran Experimental Orchestra. The Trans-Modern Art hypothesis and Placard Theatre in the area of drama and the Repetition and Mantra theory in the area of music are among his ideas in the recent decade.

Trans-Modern Art

Puppet as Audience

Interview with Hamidreza Ardalan:

Farnaz Behzadi:How did it occur to you to perform for puppets?

Hamidreza Ardalan: After a workshop with a group of young theatre people, we had prepared a puppet show which did not get the chance to be performed. The whole script was just saying “why” “why” repeated constantly by some gnomes. Members of the group were so upset about not performing it, especially because some of them were acting in a trans-modern performance for the first time. So, with their aid, I built some puppets from paper and put them on the seats as the audience. The troupe performed the play for some paper puppets.

So, not having permission to perform gave you this idea?

No, I had already seen trends in puppet performances of the world which made me consider puppet and its influence on man deeper and more serious. Since nearly two decades ago, I had been looking for ways to put objects and creatures opposite performers, actors and musicians in a way so that their importance would be understood. So, I performed for mountains, trees, seas, darkness and puppets. Imagine a tree; the importance has to be so great that cutting it would not be easily possible. Or a glass of water should not serve merely to quench the thirst. To announce this idea, puppets could be useful. Later, other concepts were added to it.

Do the performers and artists recognize these puppets or trees, the sea or the darkness as real audiences?

We easily recognize puppets as a living and influential actor on the stage, now if the performers are determined and aware, they can accept them as the audience too. Puppets have been man’s companion and confidant in many civilizations.

Is there a philosophical viewpoint in doing so? And if yes, what is that viewpoint?

In the contemporary era, man does not look after his environment enough. We, as humans, have allowed ourselves to destroy the natural environment and contribute to the extinction of other creatures. If we go on like this, there is no guarantee that man’s condition will not be in serious danger in the next century. I always ask myself the question to what extent have we got authority and will to preserve ourselves and our environment? A complicated mechanism is operating in the modern human societies. Apparently, the priority of this mechanism is not peaceful coexistence of man and nature and other animals, or a remedy for oppression! We all know that the news of the modern world in the media is full of war, hunger and injustice. The question is: who does this? I am trying to pose a question by giving originality to objects, puppets and other creatures, and this question can have philosophical aspects, too. Maybe one day, these objects or puppets offer an answer or a solution.

So, your message involves the environment and man’s place in it?

Part of it yes, and the other part is the concept of presence, presence in the existence, a kind of which is presence in watching and listening to art. I suppose art has not been able to convince the audience to look after the universe and his existence in it enough. Maybe the absence of audience in a performance can refer to the question what is the fundamental function of the relation between artist and audience? Or leave the artists waiting for a miracle so that these objects which have a human face give a smile to the originality of our art or a frown of dissatisfaction. They can be an infinite and eternal image of the reality of existence. I am trying to understand puppets in their limitlessness. While watching, they have a firm and deep look; they are patient in listening to concepts, just like the universe which is watching us.

In your opinion, why has art been little able to teach man the lifestyle with care, or at least to remind it?

Regarding the artist as a practitioner and the audience as a client is the fruit of the past few centuries. In the past, most of the people in a civilization or in a tribe took part in rituals collectively. They could all dance and sing and this dance and singing had a true relation with the nature, living things and objects. The border between the performers and audiences was hidden or did not exist. Today, art can be considered as a commodity, too. We know that when art, as man’s source of inspiration, changes into a commodity, its essence changes. So, unlike ritual art, the essence is sale and not inspiration for a deep understanding of man’s place, peace, justice and fellowship. I separate some of the original intellectual trends from these events and respect their works, because they have always tried to find a method of influencing the audience and help them understand the importance of man, nature and existence. But those trends which do not consider art as a commodity are few and have always been disregarded next to the dominant trends which are great fans of art as a commodity.

How can artists live if art has no income?

In the past everybody worked. They were farmers, ranchmen or craftsmen. In case of need, they set up a ritual. Everyone helped with the running of the ritual. In later societies, where responsibilities were divided widely and jobs were separated, ritual was replaces by art. I have tried not to forget the past when I analyze the modern era. Of course I do not believe that art has to be changed to past rituals again, but I have the question that is it possible that a type of art be invented which has the qualities of the old rituals and is modern at the same time.

Is that why you suggest trans-modern art, or trans-modern theatre and music?

Yes, trans means crossing. We can consider crossing the prevalent art turn to a ritual and modern art which can help the audience look after himself, the nature and the whole existence as a man, or join the pure existence again.

You did not answer my question that artists need to earn their leaving.

Does the modern ritual method tell us how the relation between artist and society should be so that they can earn their living like others? Maybe the popular art, like breathing, can cross the notion of a means for living. 

How widely has “puppet as audience” been performed?

In Iran it has been performed widely and during many years. But in the past two years it has been performed in some Asian and European countries like Moscow in Russia, Soleymaniah in Iraq, and I am planning to stage it in Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden and some other countries in 2014 and 2015.

Please tell us about your other works in the trans-modern style apart from “puppet as audience”.

Yes, “buy bus and metro tickets for puppets”, “gnomes saying why why in the presence of darkness”, “gnomes saying why why in the presence of nature”, and “gnomes saying why why in the presence of puppets”. The three last plays which have the main theme of saying why why< will be performed in the presence of other objects, too.

Please tell us more about these plays.

My first experiences in the art of trans-modern theatre were performing for the rivers, mountains, trees and other objects. Later the concept of darkness seemed to me very influential and serious. In Iranian mysticism, night and darkness are treated with special respect. On this basis, I prepared a play to be performed in the presence of darkness. In another play, I took some puppets to Tehran metro together with some actors. Tickets were bought for the puppets and they sat on their seat or stood up just like any other passenger. They were carrying placards containing messages of peace and justice and food for all. In a few minutes, passengers started communicating with the puppets and they even had questions to ask them. In the end they came to help the puppets and some of them held the placards in their hands and showed them to others.

 

 

Artists and staff involved in the play “Puppet as Audience”:

Alexy Sergunin: pianist, Moscow conservatoire – Russia

Arthur David: painter – Switzerland

Guiti khosravi: opera singer – Germany

Dariush Arjmand: theatre and cinema actor – Iran

Atila Pesyani: theatre and cinema actor and director – Iran

Dariush Moaddabiyan: theatre actor, director and playwright – Iran

Jaleh Shoari: cinema and theatre actor      

Marziyeh Sadraee: cinema and theatre actor

Rajabali Salehi: Khorasani Pardeh-khan (singer) from Torbat Heidariyeh – Iran

Hideki Sakomizu: singer – Japan

Salma Mohseni: researcher – Iran

Poupak Azimpour Tabrizi: artistic manager of the play “buy metro tickets for puppets” – Iran

Jamshid Haghighat Shenas: puppet designer – Iran

Leila Noghli: camerawoman and editor – Iran

Leila Noghli, Samaneh Gholamnejad, Shahla Rafaati, Shayegan, Ahoura Golestani: photographer – Iran

Somayyeh Shah Mohammadi: graphic designer – Iran

Bahram Javaheri: sculptor – Canada

Herdi Korde: musician – Sweden

Sara Kazemi: producer – France

Majid Bour Bour, Javad Vatani, Tali’e Tarighi, Mehdi Nemati Moghaddam, Keivan Sarreshteh, Shima Arab, Raana Kouhvand, Sepideh Rezaeezadeh, Navid Fayyaz, Mehdi Shahpiri, and Nikjan Ardalan: actors of the performers’ community of Alphabet and Puppet – Iran

Asghar Karamyar: non-actor – Iran

Members of Unima in Khorasan – Iran

Member of Unima in Chahar Mahal Bakhtiyari – Iran

Members of Unima in Isfahan – Iran

Students of Art University – Iran

Meshki Publishing House – Iran