From ‘King Lear’ to ‘Taming the Wooden Horse’: A Look at City Theater Complex’s Current Productions
According to CinamaDrame News Agency, quoting Iran-Theater, the City Theater Complex is currently hosting seven plays, both puppet and non-puppet, for theatergoers and enthusiasts.
These productions feature works by renowned Iranian and non-Iranian playwrights, from Mohammad Charmshir to William Shakespeare, each opening a new window into various genres—tragedy, comedy, and family-social melodramas—from the perspective of their directors and executive teams.
The plays currently running at the City Theater Complex are “King Lear,” “The Potion,” “Four/Ten,” “Mirza Mokhanas,” “Jack Naren,” “Taming the Wooden Horse,” and “The Dead Saying Amen in Amber.” Below is an overview of these productions.
“King Lear”: A Musical Narrative of Shakespeare’s Text
The play “King Lear,” written by William Shakespeare, translated by Hassan Alishiri, directed by Elika Abdolrazaghi, and produced by Ali Oji, began its run on May 11th at 7:30 PM, with a duration of one hour and fifty minutes, in the Main Hall of City Theater.
This production, combining live music and movement design, tells the story of “King Lear.” Elika Abdolrazaghi brought it to the stage after six months of rehearsals with a 100-person team, accompanied by the music group of pop singer Reza Yazdani.
Sayeh Hall and Two Performances: “The Potion” and “Four/Ten”
The play “The Potion,” written and directed by Mehdi Rahimi Sadeh, began its performances on May 16th at 8:15 PM, with a duration of one hour and fifteen minutes.
This play tells the story of a chemistry student who discovers a troublesome formula and is now grappling with the consequences of this new discovery.
Siavash Jame, Fatima Sarlak, Iman Solgi, Arefeh Ahmadpour, and Mehdi Rahimi Sadeh are the actors in this work.
The play “Four/Ten,” written, designed, directed, and produced by Reshad Moeini, with dramaturgy by Mirsaeed Molavian, is another performance at Sayeh Hall, starting on May 16th at 6:00 PM with a duration of one hour and ten minutes.
Majid Asadi, Shiva Sohrabi, Mahshad Hojjati, and Farbod Farhang are the actors in this play.
The synopsis of this work states: “Four specialists get entangled in a sensitive project, but after a while, they realize that nothing is normal.”
Qashqai Hall and Puppet Shows: “Mirza Mokhanas” and “Jack Naren”
The play “Mirza Mokhanas,” written and directed by Saleh Rajaei, is a puppet performance that looks at a historical event during the Qajar era under Agha Mohammad Khan. It has been hosting audiences at Qashqai Hall since May 15th at 6:00 PM, with a duration of 50 minutes.
Parnia Abrishami, Hamidreza Shahpasand, Masih Abdollahi, and Paniz Nasiri perform in this play.
The synopsis of this work reads: “At all times, people conjugate verbs; from the past perfect to the imperative. But what if time conjugates people? Everyone has something or things to ask; perhaps asking would conjugate fewer negative verbs.”
The play “Jack Naren,” written and directed by Gheis Yasaghi, began its performances on May 15th at 8:00 PM, with a duration of 50 minutes, in Qashqai Hall.
The synopsis of this play states: “There’s a legend that says Japanese people can make a doll of anyone with a few drops of blood or a piece of their clothing and control their life… Everyone has chosen a name for this spell… I call it the Japanese nightmare, some also call it fate.”
Mohammad Loghmanian, Farshad Ghasemi, Mohammad Javad Mahdian, and Gheis Yasaghi are the puppeteers in this play.
“Taming the Wooden Horse” in Chaharsoo Hall
“Taming the Wooden Horse,” co-written by Sina Razani and Nima Ghane, directed by Sina Razani, and produced by Ali Shahani, has been on stage at Chaharsoo Hall since May 8th at 8:00 PM, with a duration of one hour and fifteen minutes.
Kamran Tafti, Mostafa Sasani, Sania Salari, Ramin Sayardashti, Elaheh Shahparast, and Atabak Naderi are the actors in this play.
The synopsis of this play states: “It is the world of a wealthy and rich individual whose pastime, and that of his friends, is to find naive and unsophisticated people and take them into their circle under various pretexts to, as they say, ‘make fun of them.’
But on the night of one such gathering, the situation becomes very complicated for one of these wealthy individuals, in a way that endangers the very foundation of his life and…”
A Work by Mohammad Charmshir in the Performance Workshop
The play “The Dead Saying Amen in Amber,” written by Mohammad Charmshir, with dramaturgy by Amirreza Najafi and directed by Kambiz Asadi, is another theatrical work at City Theater that has been hosting audiences since May 19th.
Zahra Shayanfar, Milad Attar, Mehdi Norouzi, Marhan Golmohammadi, and Emad Mohammadi are the actors in this play, whose synopsis reads: “That which is found one day is hidden one day.”
Screening of “Hamilton” Theater Film at Labkhand Theater Complex Film Archive
The first program in a series of screenings of prominent theater films, in collaboration with Labkhand Theater Complex and hosted by Abbas Ghaffari, is dedicated to the screening of the theater film “Hamilton.”
The theater film “Hamilton” (USA, 2020 / 160 minutes), directed by Thomas Kail and written and produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, will be screened on Saturday, May 31st at 6:30 PM at the Labkhand Theater Complex Film Archive.
Following the screening, a critique and review session will be held with Abbas Ghaffari as host and Ramteen Shahbazi as theater critic.
Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Christopher Jackson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos, and Philippa Soo are the actors who performed in this theater film.
“Hamilton” is a musical film adapted from the Broadway show of the same name and produced by Disney Plus. This show is based on the biography of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers, and chronicles his life.
