Youth Have Seen A few Real Theater

Manijeh Mohamedi, renowned Iranian director, believes “Incident at Vichy”, which was written by Arthur Miller in the second half of 1940s about WWII and genocide of Jews, can connect to today’s concerns.

Manijeh Mohamedi graduated from University of California with a master of art in theater. After education, she began teaching drama therapy in the US. She has also taught in numerous Iranian universities for years. With a career, spanning five decades, she has directed Chub be-dast'ha-ye Varazil by Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi, plays by Jean Paul Sartre. She has translated and published some outstanding plays of the leading playwrights such as Miller in Persian.

“Incident at Vichy” is being performed every day at 20:30 in Nazerzadeh Kermani Hall of Iranshahr Theater until Thursday. “Incident at Vichy” sets in a Nazis detention center after occupation of Vichy in France in 1942. Nazis are identifying Jews to send them to extermination camps. The play is about complicated story of relationships among detainees, Nazis and facing death.

Mahvash Afshar Panah, Mohammad Eskandari, Farnaz Rahnama, Mohammad Naderi, Houman Kiaei, Sam Kaboudvand, Mohammad Khodaverdi, Majid Jafari, Nastaran Pikano, Dariush Barzegar, Mehdi Mashhadi Kazemi and Ehsan Moradkhahi are the cast members.

An interview with Manijeh Mohamedi follows;

 

Why did you choose to direct this play?

The play raises today’s social matters. It was interesting for me to work on such play.

What is the connection between the play and today’s matters?

The problem the man is facing today is that humanity is on the brink of losing its true meaning. It is difficult to be a true human as we are witnessing massacres in the world. As far as fascism exists, the humanity cannot be fulfilled. 

Do you think a play, which was written in 1940s, is sufficiently related to today’s world?

Yes. I think it is so related that made me to mull over performing it. It is not a matter of a certain city or country. The world is messed up and is getting away of humanity. Bad things are happening in the world. It is important for humans to know where they stand and what’s taking place around them to help people reach awareness. This may help such bitter incidents stop. Arthur Miller had written the play in 1946. The incident took place in 1942 but we see nothing has changed yet. Think about the Syrian children who are displaced. Wasn’t that genocide? What is that? Fascism is still acting all over the world. People are forced to live their homes and lands. Everything is ruined and it is important to tell the story.

The play is raising subjects, which are sophisticated and not-easy to understand. What have you done that such difficult subjects feel like smooth for the audience?

I do not know. That’s your view. The play has 23-24 characters. All of them are men. I changed the play a little bit, reducing the characters to 12 and including three women characters. The main play is a male-exclusive text. I thought there was no difference between men and women when they were arrested and subjected to extermination. We face dilemmas today that it makes no difference to be a man or woman. This is the humanity, which is being destructed. So, I thought it would be great to add three to four women characters. The change did no harm to the main play. The play is not messed up and no dialogue is changed. But some dialogues are cut. For example, the character of communist has a three-page monologue, which looks like propaganda. I did cut it short. Today’s world is the place for awareness, thinking rather than propaganda. I published the play in the past, which reached the second edition. I did not think that I could make some changes into it. But when I wanted to direct it, I thought I would need some changes.

Don’t you feel bad because of the low number of your audience?

No. The number is not low. It maybe 80-100 in some nights. I perform theater. If someone like theater, he/she would come to see it. If someone likes performance art, he/she would go those who are mushroomed in the city. The fault lies with those who claim they want to see theater but they do not see. Today theater lovers are interested more in performances rather than theater. Youth have seen performances more than theater. They are like student works, which are called absurd by some of them. But they are not absurd theater either. Absurd theater has is form. These are largely experimental theater. 99 percent of experimental theater pieces are not professional but they have gained momentum now. Youth have seen less real theater. I do not lose anything. I have tried to pay my debt to myself, the society and my art. If the audience members do not want to see it, I could do nothing.