A Narration of Two True Stories

Khosrow Amiri told irantheater.ir that over ten thousand Iranians were martyred in the Operation Karbala-4 during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), some nonfunctional RPGs had been imported from North Korea while Iraqis had T-72 tanks for the first time, which could not be destroyed by RPG-7.   

He added that the play would also tell the story of two step brothers, one of them a criminal, the other a warfront fighter. When the fighter brother wounded in the war and was hospitalized in Mashhad Qaem Hospital, the criminal one stole his keffiyeh, a traditional Middle Eastern headdress and symbol of fighters, and his identification card to traffic drugs into Iran through Khorasan border.

Amiri said that the main story revolved around these circumstances and was among the first plays who was giving a realistic picture of Iran-Iraq war.

The writer and director of “Heaven with the Taste of Bitter Tea” said that he had written the play three years ago but he had stopped performing it because it needed some reforms.

Asked whether he was not concerned of being accused of distorting the image of the Iran-Iraq war, Mr Amiri said, “No, I was not worried because I devoted a great deal of time on research and writing it.”

On the review he had received about the play, he said that it was deprived of good advertising but the number of audience had so far been significant. Some war veterans watched the play and they were pleased with its realistic picture, he added.

Mr Amiri said that the play would exclusively be performed for artists this Saturday.

Ali Rajaei, Korosh Shahouneh and Bahar Arjomand play in the drama. Mohammad Fereshtehnejad is the composer.

Ava Kamari is the stage designer, Hamid-Reza Esmailian the assistant director, Sahel Bastar the lighting designer, Amir Karami is the stage director, Korosh Barzi the photographer and Elnaz Peikari the assistant photographer.

Opened on July 19, “Heaven with the Taste of Bitter Tea” is being staged until August 19 in every day at 19:30.