The Marionettes

Last updated
The Marionettes
The Marionettes, front cover of 2005 English edition.jpg
front cover of the English edition
Author Bahram Beyzai
Original titleعروسکها
Translator
Language Persian
Genre Play
Publisher Bahram Beyzai, Negah Publishing, Roshangaran Publishing (Iran)
University Press of America, Mazda Publishers (US)
Poetry Salzburg (Austria)
Publication date
1963
Publication place Iran
Published in English
1987, 1989, 2005
Media typePrint
Pages112 pp
ISBN 978-3-901993-23-7

The Marionettes (1963) (variously translated as "The Puppets" as well) is a puppetry play by Bahram Beyzai, and one of the most important plays of the Persian language. It has been staged numerous times in various languages around the world. Together with two subsequent plays, namely Evening in a Strange Land (1963) and The Story of the Hidden Moon (1963), The Marionettes constitutes the playwright's puppet trilogy.

Contents

Text

The play was composed in 1962-1963 and first published in Tehran early in 1963 by the playwright in a volume along with another play of his named Matarsak-ha dar Shab (i.e. "Scarecrows at Night"). [1] Later in the same year The Marionettes was again printed by the playwright; this time as the opening play of his puppet trilogy with two new puppet plays. This volume was reprinted by Negah Publishing in the spring of 1978. [2] Finally, a revised version of the play appeared in 2003 in the first volume of Beyzai's collected works, published by Roshangaran Publishing in Tehran. [3] [4]

Gisèle Kapuscinski's English translation was published in 1987, [5] soon to be followed by another translation into English by M. R. Ghanoonparvar and John Green in 1989, [6] both in the United States. Still a third translation by Parvin Loloi and Glyn Pursglove appeared in Salzburg in 2005. [7] [8]

Plot

In The Marionettes, "the dramatis personae are of universal character, almost myth-types;" as Yarshater explains. [9] They include Hero, Demon, Girl and such other types as Black Man, Merchant, Poet, etc. and of course the puppeteer is ever present. The central theme is the perennial fight between Hero and Demon. Both the central theme and the characters reoccur in the two subsequent puppet plays too, [9] and all the three pieces are "meant to be performed by actors as well." [10]

The master puppeteer sets out to amuse the audience with his puppets. He promises that the time for Hero's fight against Demon has come. But Hero, weary of unending and futile combats with Demon, avoids engagement. He loves Girl, for the sake of which he has waged an eternal battle: against himself. In the meantime, there comes the news of the appearance of a demon at the city gate. So, to urge the Hero into combat against it, three townspeople come to him imploring to break his vow. Hero will not give in. A fortuneteller girl arrives to warn him of his inevitable and imminent death. Recovering a long, dormant love and sorrow at the sight of the fair girl, Hero sets out to war against the demon. He slays his foe and is mortally wounded himself. None of the townspeople is strong enough to pick his fallen sword up. Black Man, a loyal friend to Hero, drops his gay mood and rejects master puppeteer's requests about amusing the audience. [11]

Performance

The play has had several productions around the world in various languages.

The earliest was a television production on National Iranian Radio and Television, directed by the playwright, recorded on 19 March 1967, and first broadcast on 17 April. Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, later a prominent novelist, played the Poet in this production. [12]

The English translation by Parvin Loloi and Glyn Pursglove was staged in England in 2004, with Jodi-Anne George as director of the British premier. [8] [13]

In Other Languages

The Marionettes has three different English translations:

See also

Notes

  1. "مترسکها در شب‌ و عروسکها: در نمایشنامه‌".
  2. "سه‌ نمایشنامه‌ عروسکی‌: عروسکها، غروب‌ در دیاری‌ غریب‌، قصه‌ ماه‌ پنهان‌".
  3. بیضایی، بهرام. «سالشمار زندگی و آثار بهرام بیضایی». مجلّه سیمیا زمستان ۱۳۸۶ شماره ۲. صفحه ۱۶.
  4. بیضایی، بهرام. دیوان نمایش/۱. صفحه شش vi. تهران: روشنگران و مطالعات زنان. ۱۳۸۲.
  5. "Modern Persian drama: An anthology".
  6. "Iranian drama: An anthology".
  7. "The Marionettes (2005 edition) | Open Library". Open Library.
  8. 1 2 "Bahram Beyza'i: The Marionettes". www.poetrysalzburg.com.
  9. 1 2 Yarshater, Ehsan. "The Modern Literary Idiom." Critical Perspectives on Modern Persian Literature. Edited and Compiled by Thomas M. Ricks. Washington, D. C: Three Continents Press. 1984. page 59.
  10. The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, Volume 5 (ASIA/PACIFIC). Ed. Rubin, Don. London: Routledge. 1998. Page 259.
  11. Beyza'i, Bahrām. The Marionettes. Edited by Jodi-Anne George, Parvin Loloi & Glyn Pursglove. Salzburg: Poetry Salzburg. October 2005. ISBN   978-3-901993-23-7
  12. بیضائی، بهرام. سه نمایشنامه‌ی عروسکی. تهران: انتشارات نگاه. ۲۵۳۷. صفحه ۴۸.
  13. "English - The Joot Theatre Company". www.dundee.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2008-03-25.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad-Reza Shajarian</span> Iranian singer and musician (1940–2020)

Mohammad-Reza Shajarian was an Iranian singer and master (Ostad) of Persian traditional music. He was also known for his skills in Persian calligraphy and humanitarian activities. Shajarian started his singing career in 1959 at Radio Khorasan, rising to prominence in the 1960s with his distinct singing style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mehdi Akhavan-Sales</span> Iranian poet

Mehdi Akhavān-Sāles, or Akhavān-Sāless, pen name Mim. Omid was a prominent Iranian poet. He is one of the pioneers of Free Verse in the Persian language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bahram Beyzai</span> Iranian playwright, theatre director, screenwriter and film editor

Bahrām Beyzāêi is an Iranian playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, film editor, and ostād ("master") of Persian letters, arts and Iranian studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parsa Pirouzfar</span> Iranian actor (born 1972)

Parsa Pirouzfar is an Iranian actor, theatre director, painter, playwright and translator. He is best known for his role in In the Eyes of the Wind (2009–2010), and Mum's Guest (2004). He has received various accolades, including an Iran Cinema Celebration Award, in addition to nominations for a Crystal Simorgh and three Hafez Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pantea Bahram</span> Iranian actress

Pantea Bahram is an Iranian actress. She has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh and an Iran Cinema Celebration Award, in addition to nominations for six Hafez Awards and four Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Awards.

Savušun is a 1969 Persian novel by Iranian writer Simin Daneshvar. It is the first novel in Persian written by a female author. The story is about the life of a landowning family in Shiraz faced to the occupation of Iran during World War II. Savušun has sold over five hundred thousand copies in Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Majid Habibi</span> Iranian voice actor

Majid Habibi is an Iranian voice actor. He is known for Persian voice acting for films, animations, documentaries, video games, film trailers, television advertisements, radio advertisements, network promotions, radio or audio dramas, puppet shows, audiobooks and television programs.

<i>Memoirs of the Actor in a Supporting Role</i>

Memoirs of the Actor in a Supporting Role is a 1982 play by Bahram Beyzai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bahram Beyzai bibliography</span>

This is a list of written works by Bahram Beyzai.

<i>Kalat Claimed</i> Play by Bahram Beyzai

Kalāt Claimed is a play by Bahram Beyzai, written in 1982.

The Lady Aoi was a 1998 production of Yukio Mishima's play of the same name in Persian translation, which was produced and directed by Bahram Beyzai in his as yet only production of a play by a playwright other than himself.

<i>Baba Nazar</i> (book) 2009 book by Hossein Beyzayi

Baba Nazar is a book written by Hossein Beyzayi and edited by Mostafa Rahimi and Ahmad Dehqan. The book is the result of oral interviews with Mohammad Hassan Nazarenejad, during which the narrator recounts his stories about Iranian Revolution and Iran–Iraq War. Mohammad Hassan Nazarenejad known as Baba Nazar, the narrator of this book, was in the Iran–Iraq War for 140 months who died eight years after the war because of war injuries, in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Bahrani</span> Voice actor, Puppeteer, Actor, Director, Presenter, and poet

Mohammad Bahrani is an Iranian voice actor, puppeteer, actor, director, presenter, and poet. Best known for his voice acting improvisations as one of the most popular adult puppets in the history of the Iranian television Jenab Khan.

Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew Church of Tehran,, is an Armenian Apostolic church in Tehran, Iran. It is the oldest church in Tehran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Taghi Modarres Razavi</span> Iranian author, University professor and literary researcher

Mohammad Taghi Modarres Razavi, distinguished Professor of University of Tehran, was an Iranian Literary researcher and author. He was born in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran on March 18, 1896, and died on November 19, 1986, in Tehran, Iran.

Seyyed Qutb al-Din Mohammad Neyrizi was a prominent Iranian mystic of the Safavid period. He was 32nd Qutb of Zahabiya genealogy. All historians have written his name as Mohammad and his title as Qutb al-Din. In addition to his high position in the history of Shiite mysticism, he was one of the most important and influential political thinkers of the late Safavid period.

Four Boxes is a play by Bahram Beyzai, written in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States cultural diplomacy in Iran</span> U.S. soft power confrontation with Iran

The United States Cultural Diplomacy in Iran refers to the use of soft power of cultural diplomacy by the US government towards Iran in order to achieve its own interests.

References