About the shows “Sasism” and “One Man, One Pig”; In the absence of theatrical hangouts

Charso Press: These days, Tehran theater has lost its hangouts. Although some performances are booming and popular, the atomization of the society prevents the audience from entering into a conversation before and after the performance, without knowing each other very well, and commenting on the show that is on stage and from the heart. These associations, friendships can be formed and experiences about watching a show can be transferred. Cultural hangouts can strengthen social capital and more or less expand the space for discussion and criticism. Let’s not forget that social spaces are never pre-existing and are invented in human interactions. Therefore, the social production of the cultural space can be an exercise in tolerance and, through the inclusive dialogues of the theater audience, an introduction to the inclusiveness of critical wisdom. These days, theater has gone backward and has not been able to create the intersubjective world of its audience. Sometimes, some discussions about the quality of the performances have been dragged to virtual pages and the quality of the works has become a criterion. Due to this populist mechanism, but in appearance democratic, the institution of theater criticism has become obsolete and no longer has a special effect on the quality of works. As a result, the criteria have become highly personal and in some ways without a theoretical and aesthetic framework. The damage of this issue will affect the theater and will lead to mass production of theater productions.

This week and according to the tradition of this newspaper for several months, we will discuss some stage shows that host the audience.

The first show – Sasism

Once again, the novel “Legal Rape” by Kobo Abe and a theatrical adaptation of it in one of the theaters in Tehran. These evenings, a show titled “Sasism” written, designed and directed by Imad Saleki has been staged in Hafez Hall. A reading that is more or less faithful to the text of the novel, which is accompanied by changes in the geography and the general condition of the people of the city. Emad Saleki has preferred to go to Western societies from Japan and the attack of bed bugs is one of the reasons for the difficult situation of this show. In Kobe Abe’s novel, issues such as the dictatorship of the majority, the trampling of rights related to the private sphere, and the invasion of strangers to take over houses and properties are discussed. It is as if this continuous invasion is made possible through the legal structure of the law, and the attackers find the power to justify and legalize any encroachment and looting of minority property by citing democracy in modern societies. Kubo Abe, who is influenced by Kafka, was able to create a Kafkaesque atmosphere and comprehensively criticize the dictatorship of the majority. A place where the minority is oppressed and its existence is robbed and it has little possibility of resistance and agency. In this ridiculous and chaotic atmosphere, any kind of effort to get the right will cause more trouble and trouble. Therefore, human agency becomes impossible and the individuality of people is denied.

Emad Saleki has preferred to tell his story in the West and distance himself from the historical traditions of Japan. The invasion of bed bugs in the city and being found without the permission of a strange family changes the fate of the main character of the show. A man who is busy writing a novel and his house is full of different books, his work leads to madness and suicide and his life falls apart. Of course, the infestation of bedbugs is not dramatized as much as it should be and does not have much impact on the narrative process. Sometimes, while sleeping, some creatures in black have invaded the author’s house and so to speak, want to make the bedbugs visible to the audience. But this objectification of microscopic creatures such as bedbugs has damaged the atmosphere of the performance and seems to be redundant and unreasonable.

From the point of view of performance, the show of Sasism is not very successful in creating the Kafkaesque atmosphere of the novel. Even the acting style of the actors, rather than creating a character, imitates stereotypes and cannot create a Kafkaesque atmosphere in any way. The result of this executive approach is a work that lacks the necessary atmosphere that does not reflect the strangeness of the attacking characters. From the very beginning, people’s relationships seem too familiar and strangeness is impossible. Comparing this performance with the show “Process” directed by Ali Kreszer can reveal the successful creation of a horrible and Kafkaesque grotesque atmosphere. Sasism show gives too much importance to storytelling, but does not create an atmosphere in which this story makes sense. Even the stage design is too busy and visually makes the audience tired. Ironically, this performance can be performed better with minimalism and abstraction and prepare the atmosphere of the show.

Second show – A man and a pig

Athol Fugard’s text titled “A Place Among the Pigs” is about a man fleeing the war who has taken refuge in his home’s piggery and has been living there for years. He lives a secret and difficult life with his wife who has taken responsibility for his life. According to the symbolic order, he was killed in the war and his body disappeared, and according to his wife, even though he survived, living with the pigs in the barn brought him a form of transformation and transformation into a pig. Fugard deals with the sufferings of war and points out that man should come to terms with history and not deny his social role out of cowardice.

Amirsina Javadi’s performance of the play “Somewhere Between Pigs” does not show a wartime piggery and is too elegant and clean. There is no news of mental and physical deterioration of the men and women of the show.

The games are also closer to the representation of daily life in the city than the secret fear of the secret life in a barn. The show “One Man One Pig” has not been able to show the world proposed by Fugard. This performance also has the problem of space creation and does not reflect the dangerous situation of the characters in relation to the life of a barracks. The performance needs to take more risks and create its own world, for example, in the acting of actors, stage design, and complicated relations between men and women. Tips that are not seen much.

In the end, this sixty-minute performance can be considered a not very successful experience, which is plagued by wrong assumptions regarding the post-war situation of the characters and failed to create the inflammatory and exciting atmosphere of a piggery.

Fugard is a talented writer who needs more precision and practice to stage his works. Of course, in the second scene, the body of the male actor is somewhat distant from the static gestures and swallowed cane of the first scene and expresses the experience of fear and destruction. But to stage a play by Fugard, more than this is needed, and in the age of endless wars, this executive group has the historical task of presenting a new and radical reading. But unfortunately, by relieving the suffering of the main character and normalizing the disaster, this performance is moving in the wrong direction and will not necessarily reach its destination. Returning to the world suggested by Fugard is better than Steron’s readings of such failed plays. Being somewhere among pigs, but wishing for humanity and a better world.