Peripheral Ta'ziyeh: The Transformation of Ta'ziyeh from Muharram Mourning Ritual to Secular and Comical Theatre

This essay is neither a chronological nor historical treatment of ta'ziyeh and the Persian theatre. My intention is to discuss the evolution of Persian indigenous theatre production, its ramifications, its abrupt truncation, and the theatrical possibilities that it could have brought about in the Iranian theatre. It is interesting to note that although neglected in Iran, ta'ziyeh nevertheless had a considerable impact on modern theatrical thought and production in the West. It is enough to mention the monumental production of the Mahabharata by Peter Brook (1985) in which the influence of the ta'ziyeh style was quite evident.¹

Much has been written about ta'ziyeh in the past 25 years. However, the existing material has mainly studied ta'ziyeh within the framework of the mourning rituals of the first 10 days of the month of Muharram. Therefore, it deals solely with the events surrounding the tragedy of Karbala—the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (the third Shiite Imam), his family, and his companions. For example, following the 1976 international symposium on ta'ziyeh, which was part of the Shiraz Art Festival, Peter J. Chelkowski edited a book entitled, Ta'ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran (1979). This book is one of the best if not the best source for scholars and anyone interested in this indigenous Iranian form of theatrical expression. Even so, it discusses and introduces the ta'ziyeh in its original form, concerning only the events of Karbala.

I wish to examine the development of ta'ziyeh and its transformation into a secular and even a comical form of theatre, created purely for entertainment, which retained the techniques and style of the traditional religious ta'ziyeh. The "comical ta'ziyeh" is actually a contradiction in terms since "ta'ziyeh" is the verbal noun from the Arabic verb 'aza, meaning "condolence," "mourning for the dead." Thus, the very idea of "comical ta'ziyeh" as an expression does not make much sense from the linguistic point of view. Today most scholars prefer to call this kind of representation shabih-e mozhek. Shabih means "alike, equal, representation," and mozhek means "funny."

The development of ta'ziyeh reached its peak during the Qajar period thanks, in particular, to the great interest shown by the Qajar Kings, especially Nasser al-Din Shah (1848-1896). A most important development during this period is that "due to popular demand," performances of ta'ziyeh were no longer restricted to the month of Muharram and the following month of Safar, but extended to other times throughout the year. In the beginning, there were only certain dates in the Shiite calendar when ta'ziyeh could be performed. For example, the ta'ziyeh of the martyrdom of Ali, the first Shiite Imam and the fourth caliph, was performed on the 21st of Ramadan, the day Ali died from a sword wound.

Popular appreciation of this dramatic form encouraged the growth of the ta'ziyeh repertory. Other stories from the Islamic tradition as well as biblical stories and Iranian national legends were incorporated. Since staging a performance involved a great deal of effort, a ta'ziyeh group would usually perform in the same place for several days, mixing the Muharram repertory with what we can call the fringe ta'ziyeh plays. Among these plays, we finally come across comedies, or more accurately, satires, concerning various perceived enemies of the Shiites. In particular, these satires concentrated on Umar, Uthman, and Abu Bakr, the three caliphs who, according to popular Shiite belief, were instrumental in preventing Ali from becoming the first caliph/Imam after the death of Prophet Muhammad.

It is theoretically possible to incorporate any event, from the day of creation to the day of judgment, into the repertory of ta'ziyeh. This is possible through a very important theatrical device that played a crucial role in facilitating the importation of subjects foreign to the main topic into the ta'ziyeh plays without creating any technical or moral problems: guriz. The word guriz is the verbal noun of gurikhtan, which means, "to flee." In ta'ziyeh this...