Over time people change, many things change
Summary of the interview of several special guests of “The Tank” performance with behind the scenes camera - the fifth part Of the Interview with Reza Kochakzadeh[1]
The discussion is beyond this. There is a more important point here. The important point is that a person like Jalal Tehrani does not stay in his previous boundaries and experiences. It means that theater people learn things by working a lot, but Jalal even when he is not working is busy learning something. By not working, I mean when he is not preparing anything for the stage. A degree of progress that is usually achieved by working, he achieves it by not producing anything for the stage. He surpasses himself, he surpasses his previous perception. This text was written by Jalal himself, and he has directed it before, but now that he has returned to this show, we are facing a new phenomenon.
Does novelty mean being ahead? What is the meaning of novelty?
It means that the creator is separated from the phenomenon. It means that the phenomenon in its own extent has been able to grow and move forward. The phenomenon has not remained as before.
On what basis is the creator ahead of the phenomenon?
Based on the author's death. It means that the phenomenon is continuing its life. We face a new situation that adapts itself to the new environment. It shows itself in new dimensions and extents.
What are these new dimensions?
The biggest issue is having a new perusal. It means that we start from the same phenomenon, from the same primary elements and present a new perusal, that is, facing a work as a new work. While the work is not a new work.
How is this reading renewed?
We have expanded our interpretations in this work compared to last time[ performance], of course, I am comparing here relatively. In the first days, I told the group that if the dimension of the previous work was at the extent of a performance and the stage, now it has changed in a way that it goes beyond the audience, that is, the space surpasses the stage and is transferred to the audience, it breaks the boundaries of the stage. And the main basis of this is in [Jalal Tehrani's] new attitude towards the text. We don't do the same thing with the same material. What Mr. Farhad Mohandeshpour always said, "It’s what we do with the work that is important, not the work itself" is showing itself here.
What are we doing differently with the same elements? Give an example.
One is the precision to the ratio of the elements that are coming back to life, that is, out of the three words we have, for example, to create a ratio in their perusal that will be more effective. The word cold, which was not seen in the previous performance of this work, has now become an encyclopedia, which means that this word changes its meaning in every situation. The appearance of the word is the same, but it references something else and not to the same fact as before. Now words have acquired semiotic dimensions. This [problem] is one of the dimensions of the new attitude that can expand the working space beyond the viewer.
To create a new meaning...
Yes, if we want to look at the meanings of the words. But what I am saying is not based on the meaning. When I say cold changes from one thing to another [I mean] not the meaning of cold, [but] its subtext, its reference. During work, we are faced with a closed circle of vocabulary, we do not have a variety of vocabulary. An aspect that many believe makes literature true literature.
Does it mean that the word creates an action?
In any show, the word must create an action.
No, I mean, what does the new function of the words you are talking about signify?
Yes, it means the word finds a new action in a new situation. This new position is not necessarily the arranged position of ten minutes later, this new position may arise in the next second. If I were to explain novelty, [I would say it's when] the ratio between human elements and objects constantly changes.
How does the action change in the new situation? For example, in the case of "Hava Sard-e (the weather is cold)" [which is repeated continuously throughout the performance], how does the action change?
The first reaction of the audience to this word is a dictionary based reaction, that is, what everyone perceives from this word.
"Hava Sard-e" is repeated in four or five dialogues between Dadash and Dadashi. This repetition, apart from presenting and conveying the space to us, in continuity becomes an inability, a preparation to defend ourselves from something we don't know what it is yet, [but] we fear it. “Hava Sard-e” attacks the audience. This is not necessarily the greatest feature of the tank, as this should happen in every theater. In the first scene of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, the word month is mentioned seven to eight times, and none of them seem to have the same meaning. The beginning of the work month is supposed to be a sign of the passage of time (the two lovers are waiting for the end of the month to get married) which is absolutely a fortunate event. But as soon as the father and daughter talk to each other, the same month said by the same speaker gets an inauspicious meaning. This is a common occurrence in standard dramatic literature. In our dramatic literature, these things are gradually gaining meaning. And it is attentive observation of the main dramatic elements that can make the work stand out, [that is, when] we know the activism of the work well and narrate it correctly and shape it in the right proportions. This issue, which can be said to be one of the primary elements of drama, has become a difficult task for us. That's why the tank is still untouched in comparison with all the work that is on the stage now. The most important thing is that the difference of Jalal Tehrani's perceptions as a director have been well transferred to the executive team. They have been able to understand and implement Jalal Tehrani's perception. I saw one of the most important features [understanding the director's perception by the actors] tonight in Dadashi's final monologue. Pay attention to what this monologue was during the past performances and what it has become now. While the words are the same as the previous words. But what we do with the same monologue becomes a positive thing and a new phenomenon. When the same scene starts to change its own extents, it changes the extents of the whole work. As the people who change the scene work differently, they appear more accurate, precise and proper. We no longer see them as an additional phenomenon. Now they have become part of the work.
[1] Maktabetehran-2011