Tehran – The 1971 comedy drama play Neil Simon, “Prisoner of Second Avenue,” will be performing at the DA Theatre Hall in Tehran from April 24th.
Amir Masoud Rajabi directed the play and performed with Mehdi Samimi, Sara Zoghi, Mohammad Moradi and Samaneh Sadeghi.
Neil Simon’s gut-busting comedy about the nervous breakdown of Manhattan executives and subsequent recovery takes a minute of watching middle-aged and modern life.
The story revolves around the escalating issue of a middle-aged couple living on Second Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in New York City.
Meledison is an executive of a middle class advertising account and he has a very bad time. His employer is on the verge of bankruptcy, resulting in Mel losing his job after 22 years of faithful service. Now he has to deal with unemployed mid-age during the economic recession.
This action occurs between intense summer heat and long-term garbage strikes. This is the loud noise that exacerbates Edison’s light-like form as he and his wife Edna deal with their loud and controversial neighbors, making its way from Manhattan’s streets to apartments. Mel’s 14th floor apartment is cracked and I can’t sleep due to defective air conditioning.
When Mel loses his job and is taken away in the same week, he loses his ability to deal with it, becomes a prisoner in an apartment on the second avenue, roams the walls of his pyjamas, and listens to talk-back radio for hours. He believes there is a conspiracy that “deteriosity of the human mind. Humans weaken themselves, causing spontaneous, self-imposed, self-destructive self-destruction.”
Mel can’t find a job, so Edna returns to work. Mel ultimately suffers from a nervous breakdown, and the loving care of his brother Harry, his sisters, and mostly, Edna, is to try to bring him back to a new reality.
The Neil Simon play, written more than 50 years ago, resonates strongly today. In “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” Simon’s comedy gets darker as she explores the devastating effects of urban life on middle-aged couples.
In the early 1970s, when the play took place, New York City was plagued by financial problems, high crime and strikes, making daily life often inconvenient and dangerous.
Neil Simon (1927-2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote about the screenplays for more than 30 plays and roughly as many films. Mostly his theatrical film adaptations. He won three Tony and Golden Globes as well as three Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He was awarded a special Tony Award in 1975, a Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1991, a Kennedy Center honor in 1995, and a Mark Twain Award in 2006 for American Humor.
One of the most popular figures of 20th century American playwrights, Neil Simon is known for his comedy that closely examines tensions that can arise between families or between men and women living in New York.
“Prisoners on Second Avenue” will remain on stage until May 5th. The theatre hall is located at No. 5, Kirk Street, the first dead end of Enkelab Street.
SS/SAB