Elika Abdolrazzaghi on her New directing experience and William Shakespeare

 Elika Abdolrazzaghi, actress and director of the play "King Lear: A Melodious Narrative," which is currently in the main hall of the City Theater Complex, said: "In the hall, we are faced with an audience of 12 to 18 years old who may not even have heard of Shakespeare, but they see the performance of King Lear and follow the story, and then search for it. This means that we have been able to introduce them to the world of classical plays."

 

 

 

The play "King Lear: A Melodious Narrative" by William Shakespeare, translated by Mohsen Alishiri and produced by Ali Oji is performing at City Theater Complex nowadays and Elika Abdolrazzaghi, the director talked with Iran Theater about her new experience.

 

She said: My husband, Amin Zendegani, and I have been teaching for years, and in our acting classes, we always choose the most difficult texts, such as monologues from great works of William Shakespeare, in terms of expression and even acting exercises. We have many actors who are successful in realistic works but cannot master the dialogues in classical works. when actors practice in an archaic tone, their performance becomes smoother and they are more comfortable delivering the dialogues.

 

 

Referring to her first directing experience and the performance of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," the actress and theater director added: I am always more involved with images than words, and I prefer to watch the characters speak rather than have them talk about events. In the performance of "Hamlet," this transformation of words into images was accompanied by music and rhythmic movements, and it continues now in the performance of "King Lear.

 

Stating that music in this work is a tool for conveying emotions, she said: "The work's integration with modern music and contemporary rhythms has been done in a way that does not harm Shakespeare's text. We tried to ensure that both the general audience, who can relate better to music, and the professional audience, who pays attention to the quality of performance, can enjoy watching the work."

 

The actress and director said: "I wanted to see all the characters with their fates. For example, in the original play, Lear announces the death of the clown at the end of the play, but I wanted this character to be present until the end of the play and to see his death on stage. The decision to clearly narrate the fate of the characters was completely conscious, and everything you see on stage is the result of the collaboration between members of the group, the ideas of the actors and the gradual formation of the performance."