Tehran – The play “Caligura,” written by Albert Camus, will be on stage at Tehran’s City Theater from March 27th.
Mehrdad Motafavi is the director of the play reported in the cast by Negin Javid, Zahra Jalilvand, Ava Hakimi, Kamyar Daryakenari, Nima Dodangeh, Ali Rahimi, Mohamadreza Ranjbar and Afshin Rahgozar.
First released in 1944, “Caligura” was later subject to numerous revisions. It is part of what Kamus called the “cycle of absurdity,” along with the novel “The Stranger” (1942) and the essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942).
While many critics have reported the work as existentialist, Camus always denies it belongs to this philosophy. The plot revolves around a historical figure in Caligula, the Roman emperor known for his cruelty and seemingly crazy behavior.
The play depicts Caligula torn by the death of her sister Drusilla. In Camus’ event version, Caligula ultimately deliberately manipulates his own assassination. (Historically, Caligula’s assassination took place in 41 AD.
Albert Kamiss wrote of his work: Obsessed with the quest for the absolute, poisoned by light empt and fear, he tries to exercise through murder and systematic perversion of all values. He rejects friendship and love, simple human solidarity, good and evil. He takes the words of those around him, he forces them into logic, and he has all the levels around him by the power of his rejection and the rage of destruction that drives his passion for life.”
“But if his truth is to rebel against fate, his teachers are to oppose and deny other men. They cannot destroy themselves without destroying themselves. This is why Caligula is overloaded in the world around him, and he is faithful to his logic and makes arrangements to arm those who will ultimately kill him. Caligula is an excellent suicide story. It is the most human, the most tragic story of error. Dishonest to humans who are faithful to themselves, Caligula agrees to die, realizing that no one can save himself on his own and cannot be free to oppose other men,” Camus continued.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a French philosopher, author, playwright, journalist, world federalist and political activist. He was 44, the second youngest recipient in history, and was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include “The Stranger,” “The Plague,” “The Myth of Sisyphus,” “The Fall,” and “The Rebel.”
“Caligula” will remain on stage until April 29th at the City Theater at Daneshjoo Park, the intersection of Valiasr and Enghelab streets.
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