Faith in saving the world was my most important issue

Charso Press: “Habib” is a sloppy soldier who dreamed that his father asked him to grab the bedpost and not let go, otherwise the world will be destroyed! Now the outside of the barracks is crowded and people have destroyed the back wall, many soldiers have gone on leave due to holidays, and in this situation, “Habib” is rigidly attached to the bed and won’t let go. Meanwhile, a woman entered the barracks and messed everything up. “Joke” narrates such a story in humorous language. A well-made show written and directed by Mohammad Abdulvand, which is staged in the main hall of Molavi Hall these days; Starring Amin Dehghani, Milad Moradi, Ali Miri, Sarina Targhee and Omid Saeedi, who is also in charge of composing this performance. We had a conversation with Mohammad Abdulvand about this show under the pretext of performing a “joke”.

How was the initial idea formed and what were the changes in the training process?
Pooya Chaudarian gave me the work plan; He told me one night that he had a dream of a soldier in the barracks that his father told him to tighten the bed rail or the world would end, and with difficulty they separated this soldier from the bed. I developed this idea and then I realized that this alone could not help the story and I decided to introduce a woman. The text changed a lot during the exercises; So we considered four different endings for the work until we finally reached what you see on stage today.
The actors knew the characters very well and in fact it can be said that they were very aware of their role and were comfortable in it. The games were even; Was this uniformity the result of many exercises?
As a director, I only asked the actors to be themselves on stage. When an actor is going to play a role, he should be able to add something from himself to that role. In the performance we had at the Hamon festival, I played the role of “Hadi” myself, and when Milad Moradi was supposed to take over the role, I asked him to completely forget my role and be himself. I think that this uniformity is the result of the fact that the actors were themselves and knew the characters well and added their own to them.
Did you have any changes in the cast?
The only female actress was changed several times, which was due to time interference, Corona, and other such issues. In the beginning, Sarina Targhi played the role of a woman, which changed several times, and in the end, she got this role.
Although we may point out that the whole story was a “joke”, we can have the impression that the soldier had a kind of passivity, which happened to see actuality in his passivity, and had important reasons for this passivity that he had accepted, or rather, given to them. had faith Isn’t this something like the passivity of many of us these days?
There is a saying that says “If you want to change the world, start from your bed!” Habib is an addicted soldier who did not study and did not progress in life; While his friends have all been promoted. He has not done any specific work in life and has never been taken seriously enough to be assigned a task; Now he has dreamed that he can save the world from destruction by holding the bed rod. This task made him feel important. As many of us feel that we are useless people; While this is not the case or vice versa. The soldiers have long hair because I wanted to show that they are not just in the barracks and the bed on the stage could be anywhere. Just as opposing forces like “Farokh” character are present in every place.
Was the presence of the woman left out instead of helping to build the drama? In fact, it didn’t seem like the presence of the woman in the barracks or her problem with her husband was the main issue of the drama, or even the soldier who tied himself to the bed thinking that he would save the world, what was your main issue in the text?
My main problem was the hand that is attached to the bed, and I tried to maneuver it more and ended up with the same hand. If we want to consider an archetype for Habib, perhaps the story of Hazrat Ibrahim can be used as an example; When Prophet Ibrahim is ordered to “kill your child”, he decides to do so with full faith and without any doubts, but there is little doubt in the character of “Habib”. He doubts at first and as soon as he lets go of the bed rod, he sees that the earthquake starts, and then he comes to faith and refuses to let go of the bed rod in any way. In this work, Habib’s hand and faith in saving the world was my most important issue. Our main topic was not the girl who entered the barracks, but her influence is always there, and even at the end, when the girl disappears, “Habib” gets involved with the issue of whether it is the girl’s fault or not?
What was the reason why the actress came on stage from among the audience?
We have two doors in the show, one is behind the wardrobes and the other is the “back wall”, which has been destroyed by the crowds behind the wall and the soldiers are filling it. The back wall is a place among the protesting people, which we, the audience, took as the place where the girl enters.
Regarding the presence of Omid Saeedi as a composer and his singing in the last scene, I want to ask why he was not present more and how can his role be defined in the show? Can it be interpreted as an external event for the ending or did it also play a role in advancing the drama?
At the beginning, I talked with Omid Saeedi to compose the show. In the previous performance, Omid was also among the audience, but later ideas were formed that increased Omid’s presence on the stage; Like when the closet falls and we see Omid standing behind it. We also considered a character for him who is absent but present. He is actually a soldier who ran away when he saw the girl in the barracks. Furthermore, Omid Saeedi offered me a poem and music that he will sing on stage at the end of the work.
These days, it seems that the most important theatrical trend and the one that comes out of the heart of the society is the university theater trend. How do you see this trend? What do you think are their strengths and weaknesses?
There is a fact that university theater is more fearless and risk-taking and likes to try everything, although it is possible that not all of them will go right; But this is what our veterans in the theater do not go for. In fact, it can be said that university theater has more up-to-date concerns. Perhaps one of the most important problems of university theater is the hall. You have to wait for a long time to perform in a hall like Molvi because of the large number of students, and private halls are also expensive. At one time, “Independent Theater” did good activities such as “Experience Age” where children could perform there for a low cost. With the closing of “Independent Theater”, it is not bad that one of the private collections like “Shehrzad”, which also has a good audience, will fill its place. In the end, I want to thank “Ali Mehrani” who was the dramaturg of the work and helped us in many other areas such as acting.