Fulfilling the wish of Ahmad Reza Ahmadi and not regretting Davood Rashidi

Theater News Base: Mr. Shaar’s play had special features, and so did Ahmad Reza Ahmadi, a longtime friend of Rashidi. So there was no time to delay and the director talked to his poet friend to perform this play and a promise was made.

This issue was officially published in the media in the early 90’s. Now there was an important issue; Find a poet actor to play in this show.

But watching a short film made it easier for both friends. Ahmadi immediately found the actor suitable for the role of a poet. Rashidi himself made the first call and invited Kourosh Soleimani to play in this play. An experience that could have been full of happiness for this actor, but it was as if the circle of episodes did not turn according to their intentions and the performance of this play was not possible.

However, the mind and heart of Cyrus Soleimani remained before this play and this role until, after about a decade, he rolled up his sleeves to bring this play on stage.

The actor, who has also directed several plays, went to Ahmad Reza Ahmadi to play his latest work, and the play “Airport, Flight No. 707” is scheduled to be staged in the second half of December in the Samandarian Hall of Iranshahr Theater.

In an interview with ISNA, Soleimani talks about how and why this play was performed.

Davood Rashidi and Ahmad Reza Ahmadi at the meeting to introduce the play “Airport, Flight No. 707”

He reminds at the beginning: Mr. Rashidi was supposed to perform this play in 1990. He was looking for an actor to play the role of the poet of this play. Ironically, Mr. Ahmad Reza Ahmadi had seen me play in a short film and suggested me to Mr. Rashidi. It was a great honor for me, especially since Mr. Rashidi himself contacted the magnanimity and the performance was scheduled, but after a while, the performance was canceled, which made me very sad. I wanted to play for Mr. Rashidi in a play by Mr. Ahmad Reza Ahmadi, but it was not possible.

Soleimani, who has been in love with the play since that time, has staged several other texts over the years, but this concern did not go away until finally, this year, the fortune of this play opened and now it is about to be performed.

He continues: “All the time I dreamed of performing this play, Mr. Ahmadi also wanted his plays to go on stage, and this was the initial spark for the performance of this play.”

Although Soleimani was supposed to be the poet of this play before, but it was better for him to direct this role to another actor now that he is directing the work.

“Despite my interest in acting, I chose not to act in this play because half of my energy was spent on acting and I could not focus all my energy on directing it,” he explains.

The director and actor then talks about the effective presence of Ahmad Reza Ahmadi in the cultural and artistic space of our country: Those who know his mental space know that Mr. Ahmadi is a poet who has been known as a modern figure in our literature since the 1940s. They are a source of light, whether when they give life to a more beautiful color with their poems, or when they have been in charge of the intellectual development center in the years before the revolution, and during their administration, they have arrested many artists, including Mr. Amir Naderi. They have helped make their films or produce valuable pieces of children’s stories and poems. That is, they have also been influential in the management position. Now that they have white hair, in addition to writing, they also paint.

Soleimani considers Ahmad Reza Ahmadi a hard-working and honest person and adds: His poems may be presented in an intellectual atmosphere, but its content is quite popular.

Referring to Ahmad Reza Ahmadi’s concerns about writing plays, he says: “These plays have been in his mind for many years until they were presented and published in the late 80’s.” The play “Airport, Flight No. 707” also has a poetic fullness of his poems with very attractive characters.

Soleimani, who has performed plays such as “Follow May”, “White Silence” and “Crumb of Bread” in his artistic career, says about his encounter with Ahmad Reza Ahmadi’s text: “I came across this work very dreamily because in this text, the mind allows It has a flight. Unfortunately, in these years, our theater is moving away from literature and the kind of serious look. Of course, despite the problems it caused, Corona caused things to come on stage that did not seek to show off and gain a career.

Although he introduces the cast in the coming days, he continues: I could not invite friends who do not know Mr. Ahmad Reza Ahmadi to collaborate. Sometimes we have other reasons for performing theater besides this art itself. This play is a kind of homage to him. Although the work is about poets, that is, those who suffer from seeing people suffer, it is important to me that artistic dignity is at stake in general.

The director goes on to point out the difficulties of working in the theater during the Corona: We do our best to present our best. The audience has always been respectable, especially at this time. Someone who buys a theater ticket and takes the time to see it is part of the work, and we try to give him the best we can.

Kourosh Soleimani says in the end: I hope my friends will revise the health protocols of theaters. At present, the capacity of theaters is still 50%, and it is necessary to leave half of the capacity of the halls empty in order to observe the principle of social distance during the corona, while, for example, this law does not exist in airplanes and all airplanes are full. That theatrical groups bring their works to the stage in very difficult economic conditions, and the fact that half of the seats in the hall are empty puts them in even more trouble.

The play “Airport, Flight No. 707” will be staged in the second half of December in the Samandarian Master Hall of Iranshahr Theater.