An Interview with Sina Rastgou, Director of “An Enemy of the People”
Audience Must See Themselves in Mirror
Audience Must See Themselves in Mirror 2
Audience Must See Themselves in Mirror 3
Audience Must See Themselves in Mirror 4
Audience Must See Themselves in Mirror 5
Iran Theater: Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen is well-known with his brilliant plays such as Ghosts, Heda Gabler and others. He is popular among theater directors across the world. In Iran, Dariush Mehrjouei, noted cinema director, made “Sarah” based on adaptation of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”. Sina Rastgou, young director, had performed “An Enemy of the People’ in University Theater Festival in the past and had received some awards for the best acting and design.
Sina Rastgou is among the last students of legendary theater director Hamid Samandarian. He took courses of direction with Kiumars Moradi. “An Enemy of the People” took part in the Baran Performing Arts Festival and received awards. “An Enemy of the People” tells the story of Dr. Thomas Stockmann who is committed to moralities and social morale.
Mohammad Reza Imanian, Zahra Behrouzmanesh, Mohammad Habibi, Amir Shahali, Vahid Sheikhi, Vala and Bardia Adeli, Shahriar Fard, Mohammad Mesgari, Marzieh Mousavi, Mansour Nasiri, Ashkan Ajdari, Maliheh Amiri, Shirin Amini, Ali Banaei, Mahmoud Piri, Bita Sabeti Mohammadi, Sara Khanaki, Milad Khan Ahmadi, Erfan Dana, Sahand Soltani, Aisan Abdollahi, Baran Fard and Mona Mehdipour play in “An Enemy of the People”. Sina Rastgou talks about the show.
Plays by Ibsen has repeatedly performed in Iran in recent years. Ali Pouyan performed “An Enemy of the People” in April. What are the attractions of Ibsen’s plays for directors?
“An Enemy of the People” had not been performed in Iran for a decade until Ali Pouyan directed it earlier this year. Akbar Zanjanpour, noted director and actor, had directed it ten years ago. I have started rehearsals in 2016 and performed it in Baran Performing Arts Festival too. I think Ibsen’s writings are globally inclusive. They are timeless and can be adapted whenever a director wants. Ibsen talks about the problems of democracy deeply in “An Enemy of the People”. Works of Ibsen have room for many interpretations by the audience. Each day after the performance, some audience talk about their interpretation of each character.
There are numerous translation of "An Enemy of the People" in Farsi such as Sanaei and Mirmajid Omrani. Which one did you refer?
In fact, I reviewed the text and referred to many translations by Aryanpour, Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh, Majid Omrani and an adaptation by Arthur Miller. Gholamhossein Dolatabadi has translated the latter and I studied it too.
Have you been loyal to Ibsen's play?
If I wanted to perform the text completely, the duration of the play would have exceeded two hours. I cut the text short to be able to attract the attention of today's audience. I also wanted to put the spotlight on some characters and highlight the role of the people. I tried to be loyal to Ibsen's play in general but the performance to be close to today's taste. I did this through modern set design to relate to issues of the world now.