TEHRAN – The play “After Magritte” written by Tom Stoppard is being performed in the media hall of the Tehran theater complex.
Soheil Rafiei is directing the play and stars alongside Pega Moradi, Mariam Kedomati, Reza Niknam and Godals Hajari, reported Honalonline.
Stoppard’s one-act play is a stunning theatrical adaptation of René Magritte’s vague, dreamlike surrealist paintings.
Set in a single room, the story follows a family as they engage in disjointed, pointless actions that seem to lack any rationale: an elderly woman lying on an ironing board, a pile of furniture, and a heated argument over whether a one-legged soccer player ran with a turtle.
As the story unfolds, these unusual interactions and events are further intensified by the arrival of an enraged police inspector who interrogates the relatives about an elusive criminal, a crippled minstrel caper.
Magritte is known for his depictions of ordinary objects arranged in illogical and bizarre compositions that defy rational explanation. Magritte transformed our understanding of language through the arrangement of objects that imbued language with new meaning.
Stoppard applies Magritte’s manipulation of signs, symbols, and language to the play, where characters, settings, and props fail to function according to their intended purpose and are instead utilized for unknown purposes.
The play deals with the problem of defining reality, the mysteries of perception, the elusiveness of empirical and logical truth, the nature of perspective, the reliability of witnesses and testimonies, and the conflict between appearances and reality.
Sir Tom Stoppard (88 years old) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He wrote scripts for film, radio, stage, and television, and achieved fame in theater.
His work deals with themes such as human rights, censorship, and political freedom, and often delves into the deeper philosophical underpinnings of society.
Stoppard is a National Theater playwright and one of the most internationally active playwrights of his generation.
“After Magritte” will be shown at the Tehran Theater Complex (Enherab Avenue, Vesal Shirazi Street, 3 Farhangi Street) until November 28th.
SS/SAB