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2015

Documentary Theatre | Artistic Advisor

A group of theatre actors rehearse two documentary-based narratives drawn from recent violence in Iran: a young woman in Isfahan who survives an acid attack, and a teenage boy who kills his neighbour’s daughter with a knife. One of the actors, Navid leaves after being cast in a film. A disembodied director’s voice asks for a replacement from the audience. When this fails, the playwright, Bahar, steps in. The director’s presence becomes increasingly controlling, pushing the actors away from the documentary material into their own personal narratives. When Navid returns, the group must decide: which actor should be removed?

Yousef Bapiri exposes the hidden violence in the director–actor relationship through shifting floor panels, fragmented costumes, and water sprays, placing the audience in an ethical dilemma: how far are we responsible for witnessing violence?

Throughout the process, my attention was directed toward how documentary material appears on stage not as a “source for storytelling,” but as something living and problematic in itself, and how, beyond engaging with the representation of violent stories, the audience might also play a role in interrupting or continuing this cycle.

This experience later proved influential in the development of my project Gonbad Incidents.

• Iranshahr Theatre, Samandarian Hall, Tehran, Iran – April and May 2015

Duration
60 Minutes

• Production Manager: Mohammad Ghods
• Producer: Tazeh Theatre Group