One such rich experience is the latest re-telling of {William Shakespeare}’s Macbeth by {Reza Servati} and his MAKS Group at the Sayeh Hall of Tehran’s City Theatre. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at last year’s University Theatre Festival as well as first place in direction and set, costume and lighting design, Servati’s hour-long Macbeth is the result of a year and a half of workshop development. Poetically stark, the costume and set design’s timeless elegance and minimalism are evocative of {Julie Taymore}’s best work.The physically potent acting style and the directorial choices remind one of the Japanese master director {Tadashi Suzuki}’s reinterpretations of classics. Servati names {Gertowski} and {Kantor} as his major influences and indeed, the central participation of the design elements including music as well as the grotesque surrealistic world within which the characters live pay homage to Polish theatre.

The play begins in stunning silence; the darkness abruptly broken by a sharp white spot light on the narrator delivering an eerie welcome speech. Looking more like the gatekeeper of hell sporting a handsome axe, the narrator introduces us to a tomb, a versatile box/bed/door/gate and the focal design element of the set, where two body bags rest. But there is no rest in this play. Before we know it, one corpse is decapitated and the headless body clad in a red velvet gown roams about the stage while the “separated” head remains speaking on the tomb. Within moments, the audience is clearly jolted into a surreal space understanding subconsciously that in this world, any thing is possible and there in lies the great achievement in creating and pleasure in viewing this performance. The next moment we come face to face with *Lady Macbeth* performed by a bald male actor who looks curiously alike the bald actor who plays Macbeth. Resembling twins in a cruel womb, the two characters struggle to relive their tragedy over and over knowing the outcome only too well. Next, a fetus dangling inside a glass box appears downstage. Lady Macbeth’s lascivious interaction with the box is shockingly uncomfortable and a fantastic representation of her deep ambition. The intermingling of love, war and power continues in the exchange between Macbeth and Lady M preceding the actual murder where they seem to be salivating in anticipation of their monstrous feat. Like a detective, Servati takes his audience on an investigation of the play, zooming in at times and pulling back at others never losing sight of their shared investment in rendering this interpretation meaningful. The play comments on itself through intermixing of select characters’ dialogue and, like a good little postmodern rendition, pushes the text off its sacred pedestal. Having reduced the text to its most essential elements, the five-member cast inhabits the play with every pore of their being. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s stylized walk down stage resembles being dragged by an invisible rope as if their participation is against their will. The witches, performed by three men of small, medium and large physical features dressed in military uniform, march and sing their predictions in an east-west hybrid martial melody. The music is an original composition by {Bamdad Afshar} and is played live by a mix of traditional Iranian and western instruments. In the same way that nothing on stage resembles its real self or is used in a conventional manner, the musical instruments too are used unconventionally; playing the santur with a bow, for example. The Maks Group’s impressive production of Macbeth is an inventive adventure full of exciting surprises. It succeeds in facilitating a deeper understanding of the play by shocking and questioning its audience’s perceptions of it. This intelligent retelling is executed expertly and elegantly never disappointing or preaching to its audience.

In contrast, Mokashefeh dar Bab yek Mihmani-e Khamoosh, or Revelation on a Silent Party (program translation) directed by Reza Haddad presented at the Iranshahr Theatre (Tamasha-Khaneh) preaches and disappoints without revealing much but the expected and the ordinary. Selected as Best in the New Experiments category by the International Jury in the 28^th Fajr Festival, Mokashefehboasts of having two film stars in its cast as well as the highest ticket price in the history of Tehran’s professional theatre. The episodic multimedia performance begins with a cooking show where a very committed and engaging actress repeats the same cycle of instructions. A live feed video is projected on a large screen up stage zooming in and out of physical details. Also projected on the large screen are documentary style announcements filmed in black and white introducing each character and announcing the last time they were seen. An English text of the same content, newspaper type font, is projected during the Persian audio announcement. As the episodes follow, we meet the individual characters on stage in a variety of settings. We learn about an impending party where everyone would presumably be gathered. The live episodes on stage depict characters being invited to, or preparing for, or completing a task before leaving for the party. Within the story line, there is a potential love affair that is struggling to materialize. The dual introduction of characters, video projection and live, is presented non-linearly forcing the audience to piece together the narrative puzzle. The presence of the live feed video has the potential to be intrusive and menacing helping to create an enigmatic atmosphere of control and observation but it never quite delivers.

There is a lot of potential in this performance. The poignant story of a group of youth disappearing after a party certainly resonates with the audience; as does the theme of constant observation and intrusion on personal space. But rather than focusing on utilizing his strongest tools in unexpected ways, the director continues to introduce new ones. Like a child gifted a bottomless box of toys, the director continues to show off a new toy every minute: expressionistic dance with light tubes, evocative ladder crawling, a rock concert with torch effects, a staged reading, etc. all with momentary effect and superficial relevance. There is no mystery in what the play wants to say and the style of presentation is clearly non-realistic and non-linear, yet the play feels compelled to engage a Master of Ceremonies to actually tell the audience that what they are watching is meaningless. This attempt at creating distance is completely uncalled for as there is nothing but distance between the audience and the performers. Rather than serving to engage the viewer on a cerebral level it reminds one of one’s wasted time and the inability of the performance to elicit a deep response on any level, other than perhaps indifference which I doubt is what the director is aiming for. The chaos that is Mokashefeh does succeed in presenting a series of interesting shadowy tableaus, much of it involving smoke, which make for a lovely catalog but not much more. Uneven acting, pedestrian use of multimedia techniques and an apparent inability or reluctance to make directorial choices make Mokashafeh, in this viewer’s eye, an unsuccessful attempt at creating an effective performance. Tehran audiences deserve better.

Image Credits

Macbeth photographs by Mehdi Hasani at Theater.ir

Revelation on a Silent Party photographs by Raufeh Rostami at Theater.ir