The scene is further back from the street

Charso Press: These days, there is no news of theater performances being staged, neither in Tehran nor in other cities of the country, except for one case; “Reza” show, which is performed in Molvi Hall. The General Administration of Performing Arts, as the government guardian of this art, has preferred silence for the time being; He does not insist on performing groups on the stage, nor on their not going on the stage. The main reason for the reluctance of some theater groups is the impossibility of the audience in the hall. An audience who does not have the internet to know the status of the performances and will not see their advertisements and will not see any interest in himself. However, some other groups for reasons such as living conditions and that “if we empty the halls, others whose work we don’t like will jump”.

They are still monitoring the presence on the stage. Hamid Pourazri, a well-known theater writer and director, looks at the issue beyond all this. He believes that whether a theater is staged or not, our theater is lagging behind the current events of our society and if it wants to proceed with the same order as before, it will not reach its feet. He considers even a conversation about this pointless and believes that perhaps the only function of such a conversation is to record the history of a situation; A situation in which theater performance has no function, because what is happening on the street is bigger than any stage performance.

It was on 31st Shahrivar 1401 that the first announcement of the city theater regarding the closure of theaters of this collection was published due to the current situation. The shutdown that followed and continues and a part of it is due to the reluctance of theater groups to be on stage regardless of any announcement. Reluctance, which is apparently related to the reluctance of the audience to watch the theater in its current state. However, among these there are also groups who are watching to go on stage. As a first question, I want to know which decision do you consider to be more correct in this situation? To be on stage or not?

First, I must say that in such a situation, one person wants to go on stage and one does not, and we cannot say which decision is more correct. So I’m not talking about a group of artists, I’m talking about myself. Personally, I feel that the theater performance does not work in such a situation, because what happens on the street is much bigger than any stage performance, and in the meantime, I can only laugh at myself. In my opinion, performing theater on stage has lost its function now. Because we don’t have an answer to the question, what do we want to say that hasn’t been said in the streets? As a lecturer, I don’t have anything to teach students even in university now. Because these young people are standing somewhere and are doing something that we did not do because of our considerations, our obligations, etc.

You have the experience of the events of 2018 as another manifestation of street protests in your work record. At that time, how was going on stage considered?

Looking back at that time now, I can say with certainty that most of our performances were behind the crowd. Most of the performances did not add to their existing situation. Now the story is, what kind of performance do I want to perform in front of what our young boys and girls are doing on the street? In the meantime, what do we have to say? Nothing! Or at least I have nothing to say. In such times, the theater has always been left behind by the society because it is conservative.

And if we were to have something to say, what should have happened before now?

Yes, the current situation was something that should have come out of our theaters, but it didn’t come, and our theater is currently not able to match what is happening on the street. What does this theater have to say to that 15-16-year-old teenager who knows exactly what he wants and what he doesn’t want?

You have a history of working with children of the 80s in a wide way in your resume. How do you rate this experience?

It is a strange experience. These children have clear boundaries. When they cause something to happen, they stay in the heart to see what happened and what didn’t happen, while we ran away when we were their age.

You pointed out that our theater lags behind what is happening in the society, both in 1988 and now. What do you know the reason for this?

That we do not know our society properly. We do not carefully look at the street. In our halls, immersed in a sentimentalism, we want to talk only about theater art; A claim that has no value even in normal times, let alone in critical situations, and this is part of the reason why we are lagging behind. We have fallen behind, we have settled down and this settlement has caused a great distance. My question is, how much do we have the courage to do a new experience? What does new experience mean? It means to break that ego, that aura around us and build it once again. I prefer to take what people know from them. I don’t know what I want to give instead, but I believe this is an event that can invite them from one situation to another. A situation in which you can look in a different way and think in a different way. An idea that totalitarian societies basically have a problem with. You come and invite your audience to a new situation and share in the world you want to discover. The story is that we have to break out of that conventional form to discover a new world and understand what is happening around us. Our problem is that we do not understand what is happening around us.

Do you see the potential to compensate for this gap?

The theater must have the courage to knock itself down, smash and rebuild itself. If he rebuilds, maybe this gap will be filled.

You mentioned that people are free to go on stage or not. One of the reasons they still want to go on stage is that if we vacate the stage, others will quickly fill it. How much do you agree with this reason?

I do not accept this reason at all and I consider it a justification. I remember the same reason was raised in 2018 that if we don’t work, other people will come and we may even be forgotten. At the same time, I was against this argument and believed that if this is the reason for working, then we should not work, but in the end, it is these people who can decide whether to do such work or not.

In the meantime, can living conditions be considered as a reason to continue being on stage?

I understand this and I wonder how many of the artists who work in theater have a good financial situation, and I know that compared to them, there are a lot more people who do not have a good living situation, but the problem is that theater performance is not only a problem of It doesn’t solve your financial problems, it just adds to it. There was a time when the government would cover 100% of the production costs of a show and whether you had one audience, 100 or 1000, you would get your money, but now that everything depends on the attendance and ticket sales. ? Now when the theater managers say that we pay for something that is in line with our goals and orders and not for your works and ideas. So, the provision of livelihood through implementation has become meaningless before these events, and should it be implemented under these conditions? With this amount of censorship? Should you give in to this censorship? At one time, we were thinking about how to bypass the censorship regarding the clothing of the performers, especially the women, and now we have to think about whether the executive group, especially the female actors, want to perform with the existing form or not? And can this theater do anything at all, or is it just a cheetah that does nothing? And to perform under these conditions, in my opinion, is to become a theater employee, to think that I should perform under any circumstances.

And what causes this fear of falling into a critical livelihood situation?

Conservatism. It brings fear, conservatism and snobbery.

So don’t you believe that you should work under any circumstances?

If this is the case, it has a model and everyone should find their own model. I have thought about this before and I still believe that small things should be done. I have to do something so that my brain does not ring. A work that I do not think about its license or even about its income. In the conventional form of theater, an important event will no longer take place and will lose its importance.

I think a lot about what is the importance of the words I say now? Nothing! Just maybe the historical record of a situation, otherwise it doesn’t matter. I want to say that talking about theater is not a concern at the moment, neither teaching it nor performing it, because the main events are happening in another way and somewhere else.

Even though you strongly believe in dialogue.

Yes, I strongly believe in dialogue, but sometimes I wonder if it still matters? And the answer I find in this situation is no! not important. Right now you can’t ignore what’s happening, you have to watch it and limp along if you can. The fact is that everything goes right, and the protagonist (hero) and antagonist (anti-hero) are rightly challenged with each other, and nothing is equal to it, and neither Antigone nor any other character in the drama becomes important. . Because he has passed all these and surpassed them. The one who is on the street wants to turn something upside down and create a better tomorrow, something we didn’t do, but the 80s and 90s will do.

And can you keep up with them?

At least it should not be left behind.

And we’re already behind?

I think we are left behind. Is it possible for the theater community as a profession to be so passive? It means that the sound came from the walls where we are sitting, but not from the theater house. Why? Due to the conservatism caused by the dependence on the budget of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the possibility of its interruption. I don’t want to take a stick against the theater house. I want to say that when such things happen, our world, our problems and concerns shrink.

And with these interpretations, why should we still believe that theater is the most important art among the seven arts?

Because as soon as you think of forming a theater, a community, a colony, a family life is formed. A society where you should listen to each other, respect each other, and have a mutual respect.

However, at present, this family life does not even do its most basic work and cannot establish a dialogue even among its members, let alone with those outside this life. This theater has no tomorrow because it cannot overcome the existing situation. Either he has nothing and is invisible, or he is so lazy and lazy that he has lost the ability to move. The scene that is going on outside is a bigger scene and its people are bolder people. People who know their bodies so well that they don’t need any instructions. Bodies that are not confined and know how to scream and behave; Our old and rotten theater does not know what to do against them unless it breaks itself or it will be destroyed.

And do you think this breaking will happen?

We have no other choice. Whether we accept or not. It must be accepted that something is happening and from now on it is not possible to proceed with the previous order. The path of tomorrow is not the path we have taken until today. Tomorrow’s path must be sought elsewhere. This form of obsolescence, this submission to audits will have no place in that path, and in the first place, this self-censorship thinking must be crushed and destroyed. So we theater people have a very difficult task ahead of us because we are behind.