If given the opportunity, people will welcome it.
Elham Mahmoudi, who is performing the play “My Life” at the 20th International Tehran Puppet Festival, believes that the continuous performance of puppet shows will familiarize the public with and increase their interest in this form of theater.
The playwright and theater director talked about her new play, which was prepared specifically for the Tehran Puppet Festival, saying: “My Life” is a puppet show for adults, and its theme revolves around confusion and chasing dreams. The story is about an angel who, during her fall to the Earth, injures her wing, and her dreams become her guide.
Mahmoudi explained about the puppets in her show: “Our puppets are tabletop, but I have tried to incorporate some video elements alongside the puppets to make the show more fantastical.”
She, who participated in the 19th Tehran Puppet Festival last year with the play “Mom,” expressed her pleasure at the public performances of several plays from the festival’s participants, adding: “After several adult plays, such as ‘Flight 745,’ ‘Triangle,’ ‘Alive Buried,’ and ‘Mom,’ had the opportunity for public performance, it became clear that the audience is interested in these plays. On the other hand, the continued performance of ‘Triangle,’ which is still running after six months, is a very enjoyable and pleasant event. Now that the audience is interested in adult puppet shows, it would be good for theater halls to support the performance of such works more.”
She added: “The performance of ‘Triangle’ showed that it is enough to give adult puppet shows a chance to be performed for the audience to welcome them. The more these shows increase, naturally, the audience will have more options, and the conditions for creating puppet shows will become more favorable because, at the moment, puppet show productions are still dependent on festivals.”
This director, who staged the play “Mom” in two different sessions at the Four Seasons Hall of the Tehran City Theater Complex and also at the “Hamon” Theater last year, expressed hope that puppet theater groups, especially adult puppet theater, would receive more support.
It is worth mentioning that the play “My Life,” written and directed by Elham Mahmoudi, will be performed on Saturday, December 23, in two sessions at 16:00 and 18:00, lasting 40 minutes, at the Four Seasons Hall of the Tehran City Theater Complex.
The puppet designs for this play are by Zahra Sheikh al-Hokmaei, and the puppetry direction is by Farzaneh Aqeli and Ali Barooti.
Other members of the production team are as follows: Set designer: Zahra Saremi, music: Hamed Mahmoudi and Parsa Shomali, animation design: Sanam Ahmadi, video projection: Haleh Abedi. / ISNA
