But and ifs of judging in the thirty-fourth theater festival of Isfahan province

Charso Press: The 34th theater festival of Isfahan province started on December 18th, and all three members of the jury of this period of the festival were selected from among the theater artists of Isfahan province, while in the previous periods, judges such as Saeed Poursamimi, Dariush Farhang and Qutbuddin Sadeghi were present as supervising judges. they had. This issue has raised questions about the quality level of the festival and judges, and therefore ISNA has investigated it.

The decision to use provincial capacities is marginal

Korosh Zarei, secretary of the 41st Fajr International Theater Festival Stating that when an artist and a representative are present in the same province, the same person is used as a judge, he said: This happened not only in Isfahan province, but also in 10 provinces, and the supervisor representative of the General Department of Performing Arts in the provincial theater festival is from the same province. was selected and our criterion for choosing a representative was education related to theater, judging and directing experience.

also Hassan Rondeh, director of theater coordination in the provinces of the General Department of Performing Arts In this regard, he explained: Based on the policy made in the provincial theater festival this year, in order to use the scientific and artistic wealth and power of the provinces in the theater festival, we decided to select experts from the same province according to the background and history of each province and its scientific power. Use it for the provincial theater festival.

He continued: This choice is based on the ability of the Isfahan province theater, which has had something to say in the past and recent years at the Fajr Theater Festival. Therefore, in the policy council of provincial theaters, it was decided that the representative of the general department of performing arts should be a member of Isfahan theater, which has also been done in 10 other provinces in order to take advantage of their abilities, because our provinces today are not the same as before when the university , the facilities and conditions of development do not exist, but each of them has a good ability and development that should be taken advantage of.

Ronde clarified: the issues that have arisen regarding the judges and whether they are from Isfahani or Tehran are marginal, because when a person enters the festival, he accepts all the rules of that festival and does not pay attention to the names of the judges before registering, because the rule is that before Registration, names of referees are not known. The director sends his work to the secretariat, it is accepted after review and is placed in the table like other works; Therefore, whoever judges it has no place in the Arabs, because someone who has prepared himself in terms of technique, content and the power of the performance has no fear or apprehension.

Stating that all the judges are highly educated in the field of theater and have experience in this field, he said: There is no such thing as taste in this field, but the judgments are based on the criteria, scientific criteria, technique and rules announced in different parts of the performance. It includes acting, directing, make-up, stage, music and other parts, and for this reason, this issue will not be an important problem in the provincial theater festival.

Having a referee from the center helps / I expected younger referees

Ahmed Dehghan, director of the show “Bel and the Troublesome Invention” He said: I was surprised when I saw the list of judges of the festival, because in provincial festivals, they always have a judge from the General Directorate of Performing Arts, and in my opinion, as a member of Isfahan Theater, the presence of a judge from the center can help the shows to look at national and country works. be checked

He continued: The professors who are in charge of judging the performances of this period of the theater festival of Isfahan province, each of them have seen our works several times and they have a mentality of it. In addition, the judges judge the works with the mentality they have of the theater of the province; For this reason, we expected that a judge from the center would be present in the composition of the judges of this period of the festival, in this case, this combination and consensus could be effective because each person has seen a certain number of these shows and that a person has seen the works from the center. And watching with a different perspective, approach and mental background, it can affect the quality of the festival and its scientific level.

Dehghan, who is present at the 34th provincial theater festival with the show “Bel and the Troublesome Invention”, said: Nevertheless, I hope that the judging will take into account all aspects of the shows, for example, in the show that I am in charge of directing. Bell and Troublesome Invention” has short but attractive roles that every actor is interested in trying, the make-up is different and multi-functional, and the motion stage is used, which was performed for the first time in Isfahan, and is a sign of the world’s theater moving towards digitalization. Therefore, I hope the judges will see these innovations.

Dehghan stated that he had expected the presence of younger judges in the jury, and said: Drama is an art that is constantly updated, and professors and veterans, despite their knowledge and experience, may be far from the new spaces of the theater, while Today, the shape and image of the theater in the world is changing and we must update ourselves in the art of performing.

Referring to the restrictions considered for entering this period of the festival, this director said: Another thing that was observed in this festival was a filter that required the show to have a public performance in order to be able to participate in the festival. While if this filter did not exist, more works would have been able to participate in the festival; In addition, the presence of the show in the festival and success in it can open the way for the public performance of the show, and as a result, more sales and prosperity at the box office.

He added: In the post-coronavirus era, the number of theater directors and actors decreased, while two years ago, a show was performed for 10 million tomans, while today it costs 25 to 35 million tomans, and in such economic conditions, doing artistic work, including theater has made it difficult At this time, festivals can give a boost to Isfahan theater and help artists in this field, while by applying various restrictions, the circle of artists’ presence has become narrower, and now one must ask how many theaters have public performances in a year, and only those are allowed to attend the festival. Have?

Dehghan continued: Today, the use of many words in the theater is prohibited, and such restrictions have created many problems for theater artists, while before this sensitivity was not to this extent and there was more work space. In the text of the regulations of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, there were no other restrictions except for a few important and general red lines that everyone was obliged to observe. But this incident has reduced the quality of the works and made the artists reluctant towards the theater, so that many artists are doing other things besides their expertise and things like snap, selling, which has kept them away from showing and studying for it.

He emphasized: the mission of art and especially the show is to calm the audience and express their concerns and issues with the subtle language of art. If our people are used to art, we will see less social unrest. Therefore, more attention should be paid to doing works and works related to the situation of the society so that both people and officials can see such works.

Commenting on the refereeing is wrong/necessity to eliminate the weakness violations

Pouyan Atai, director of the show “Misho Suzuki” Another director present at the 34th theater festival of Isfahan Province also stated that the judgment about the judging in the festival should be postponed until the end of the festival, and said: At the moment, I consider it wrong to comment on the judging and I believe that the judging should be done after the end of the festival. Checked the festival.

He added: Initially, a judge from the center was supposed to be present as an observer in the composition of the festival, but due to the trust that was there, the General Department of Performing Arts chose a member from Isfahan for this responsibility, and now the jury of this period consists of The festival includes veterans of the province’s theater, and I believe that premature judgments hurt people and the artistic community.

Atai continued: This festival is one of the oldest festivals of the province in the field of drama and is considered the showcase of Isfahan’s drama, a showcase that introduced good people to the country’s theater and was welcomed by artists. Of course, in recent years, there has been a lack of work in the area of ​​expenses and payments to groups, which can be solved with proper planning in terms of time, method, and exact timing. Every festival has its weaknesses and shortcomings, which should be thought about in case of continuous repetition.

The director added: Another issue is that first it was mentioned that the festival will be held in person, and then it was decided to hold the festival in person, while in the decisions, the performance groups should also be considered, which requires planning, practice and time. In addition, the recent social issues also affected this year’s festival, but despite this, the 34th edition of Isfahan Province Theater Festival was held and we hope that it will bring good things to the theater of the province.

According to ISNA, the provincial theater festivals definitely play an effective role in the development of the theater scene among the society, and on the other hand, the introduction of works to the Fajr Festival, while the third day of the 34th Isfahan Provincial Theater Festival is going on, but the city is empty. from any sign in this regard; On the other hand, it seems that the country’s view of provincial theater festivals, which was previously accompanied by the selection of judges by the General Department of Performing Arts, was helpful in increasing the quality level of the festival and the works presented to it. It remains to be seen what effect the jury’s purely provincial view of the 34th Isfahan Theater Festival will have on the process of holding this festival and the future productions of plays.

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