On the eve of January 22, the birthday of Ali Rafiei / Zayandehroudi who should not be forgiven

Charso Press: Brecht believed that the closeness and inevitable companionship of theater and social life requires the practitioners of this art-profession to study sociology in addition to the remaining knowledge. He also emphasized that the theater should bring a certain amount of entertainment to the audience, but at the same time, with the idea of ​​”distance” and “epic” theater, he simultaneously rejected or criticized shows and performances that only focused on entertainment. Examining the arrangements and stage designs of the Berliner Ensemble also reminds us that Brecht and his group remained faithful to presenting beautiful and sometimes stunning images.

Even during the performance of a play like “Nene Delavor and his children” where the stage and costumes of the actors had to be ragged according to the playwright’s request. Another example of this loyalty is the performance of the play “Coriolanus”, which was based on Brecht’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play and directed by Manfred Wakeworth and Joachim Tescht. The photo below (from the archive of renowned theater critic Kenneth Tynan) shows scenes from this 1964 Berliner Ensemble production. The spectacular scenery and costumes of the performance were designed by Karl von Appen based on the ideas of Brecht and Caspar Neher. The play went to the National Theater at the Old Vic in London in August 1965. The obvious point in this image is Brecht’s influence and special attention to the stage design of Adolphe Appia and the teachings of Erwin Piscator. In the meantime, I must mention that I have not forgotten to write about Ali Rafiei, but I am busy composing an introduction to better express what is going on in my head.

Adolph Appiah (1862-1928) and Edward Gordon Crick (1872-1966) were two designers, theorists and artists who turned the world of theater directing upside down and gave special credit to the quality of “directing” in performing arts. Before them and in the Elizabethan era of the theater, these were the actors who were considered the undisputed rulers of the scenes; The director and lighting designer acted as operators and did not dare to shine light on any point except the face and the place where the actor played the role. Appiah believed: “The art of stage processes is the art of projection in space. An art that the original author was only able to accomplish in a certain and limited time.

Time elements are implicitly placed in the text. Along with music or without it…” He recognizes the actor as an interpreter and expresser of stage art, but at the same time, he considers the design of the atmosphere and stage space to be equally important; Because the actor finds meaning in this space and takes action; But not the space and place that the theaters of the Elizabethan period demanded. That’s why he says: “All modern efforts to improve stage design have faced this basic problem: how to give maximum power to the light and in this way give complete and perfect value to the actor and the performance space?” For a long time our stage manager has sacrificed dynamic and physical presentation to a dead visual and painterly illusion, under the pressure of such tyranny it has become apparent that the human body has never been able to make progress in any of the dramatic modes of expression. This is an amazing tool. Instead of resounding with the voice of freedom, we are under the burden of compulsions and emergencies.”
Gordon Craig also considered theater to be a combination of five factors: 1-movement, 2-words, 3-line, 4-color and 5-rhythm. He did not consider any of these factors superior to the other and believed in a balanced combination of them. However, he saw the manifestation of these elements in the director and considered him above all as an orchestra conductor. The idea of ​​the super doll belongs to Gordon Craig. Because in this idea he wants to get actors who cannot lie, he uses super puppets or marionettes.

Craig believed that the actor himself is always an obstacle to guide the actor and he dreamed of a theater in which he would use super marionette and this superior puppet met all the needs of the theater stage apart from me, the actor. I mentioned these examples so that the bitter palate of the readers of this page will become as sweet as the head of a needle in the time of repeated poison, on the pretext of the birthday of Dr. Ali Rafiei and those he likes. I wrote a few lines about people that our beautiful artist has always said he was and still is interested in. Ali Rafiei, born on December 22, 1317 in Isfahan, is a director, actor, stage and costume designer for theater and cinema. He completed his BA and MA in Sociology as well as MA and PhD in Theater at the Sorbonne University in France and then received an advanced directing diploma from the International Theater University of France and an acting diploma from the Charles Dolan School in France. Among his side activities, we can mention acting in French and English movies and television, teaching at Tehran University, the head of “City Theater” and the head of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts.

“The house of Bernarda Alba”, “Memories and nightmares of a clothier from the life and murder of Mirza Taghi Khan Farahani”, “Memorial of the years of sand”, “Yerma”, “Fox hunting”, “It doesn’t snow in Egypt”, “Kalfatha”, “Wedding” “Blood” and… are among the prominent works of this director. In the opinion of the author of these lines, Ali Rafiei is an Iranian icon, the artist who cleverly listened to the suggestion of the German director and theoretician and studied sociology. Although one should be fair and say that he was not alone in this path; But he is definitely included in the handful of Iranian theater directors. I believe that after Abdul Hossein Noushin, he is one of the few people who gave credibility to the direction of the theater. Especially in the years after the revolution, when the Iranian theater did not have one or two tangible examples of directorial quality due to the historical, cultural, political and social discontinuity. Ali Rafiei was among the handful of people who sprinkled color and light into the gray, dark and depressed scenes of the theater community. An artist who was aware of the mediator of his interests (as mentioned); What is the importance of designing the scene, placing the actor in the space, paying attention to the rhythm, coloring, light and other stage elements in the theater. People who know him closely testify that in the capable hands of Ali Rafiei and his stunning designs, the actor softens like raw material and presents his best. A quality that can be seen even in collaboration with other directors. A special style and signature. The best actors of Iranian cinema and television have sometimes come out of the theaters of this director. Reviewing the image of each of the scenes designed by Ali Rafiei brings to mind the teachings of Appiah and Craig and the images of great and important scenes in the history of performing arts. Enhancing and expanding a limited space called the Rudaki Hall stage was not and is not the work of every director. I know many directors who have made big scenes at the base of a small and humble warehouse; But Ali Rafiei is one of the artists who does exactly the opposite and this is not a small achievement. Hossein Pakdel in 1995 considered Ali Rafiei to be the same as Hafez and Dehlavi and Iranian carpets – these great cultural and national assets. I distance myself a bit from these important non-theatrical analogies and consider him as Appia and Craig of Iranian theater, who gave a special effect to the transformation of the audience, stage design and understanding, and theater direction in Iran in the last half century, why not? Why should we not be proud of its existence? Why don’t we once again direct the harshest criticisms to our managers, gentlemen! This national existence is deprived of having a fixed place to transfer its precious experiences. Ali Rafiei is a progenitor who, if he forgives, we have bought the curse of future generations. There is a bridge that cracked.
* This part is translated by Alireza Amirhajbi from:
Appia, A (1919, 54.93). Actor, Space, Light, Painting.
Adolph Appia: Texts on Theater, ed. RC Beacham. London: Routledge: 114-115.
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