What do I do if some people share the same interpretation, and it causes laughter?[1]
Afarinesh's interview with Jalal Tehrani theater director on the occasion of Nefertiti show
What was your motivation for making this show?
This show was written on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hassan Moghadam, the author of Jafar Khan returned from Farang, and we started rehearsing last year and participated in the Fajr festival the year before.
Did you get an audit while reviewing the show?
There was no problem.
What problems did you have in staging this show?
We had no problem at all.
How was the casting?
Due to the fact that it was my first experience as a director and I had many problems in terms of choosing the actors, that's why the rehearsals took so long and for the first six months we didn't have two actors at all.
Financially, do you only look at the box office or are you fed by the performing arts center?
Due to the participation in the festival, we are supposed to have a contract with the center, but we have not signed the contract yet.
Have you staged Nefertiti for a specific audience or a general audience, and how was it welcomed?
I always hope to be able to connect with different levels, and so far the reception has not been bad.
What do you think are the means of attracting the audience at this point in time?
Attracting the audience in a short period of time depends on many issues, such as the up-to-dateness of the topics, the use of well-known and famous actors, the choice of time and place of performance, if it is possible to choose. However, my personal belief that in any situation the work should show off its authority in order to attract the audience is independent of the set of factors mentioned above.
In your opinion, what developments have occurred in the field of theater after June 2?
If I want to answer honestly, I don't have enough of this comparison, but it seems that there has been a significant improvement in terms of quantity. I hope that quality will come out of this quantity.
What do you think about art criticism?
I think art criticism should and is necessary. I must emphasize that it should look at the form and if it goes to the content, it should look at the relationship between that content and the form. Unfortunately, the current of criticism that governs our theater in most cases focuses on stories and content without form, and this has caused a significant gap between generations because the structural credits of the works of any of the artists of one generation have not been transferred to the next generation through criticism.
What do you think about the fame and popularity of an artist?
It depends on the definition we give of the word artist.
Were your desires brought to the stage by the actors?
After a year of practice and performance experience, I came to the conclusion that such a request is not reasonable, and a writer or director has no other choice to reach the desired goal than to move towards the actor as much as he expects the actors to move towards him.
What do you think about this show?
It has been a very, very difficult and exhausting experience for me, and of course valuable.
There was a lot of verbal humor in your show along with some nasty jokes, what do you think?
Apart from one or two everyday obscenities, we don't have any rude words or jokes. The problem is interpretation. What I like is that every word or movement can be interpreted by as many people as possible. Now, if some people share the same interpretation, and it makes me laugh, what should I do?
[1] Afarainesh newspaper,2002