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  • Ta'ziyeh in FranceThe Ritual of Renewal at the Festival d'Automne
  • Alain Crombecque (bio)

The first time that I heard of ta'ziyeh was at the end of the 1960s in Nancy, France. Jack Lang and Christian Dupavillon wanted to include a ta'ziyeh production at the World Theatre Festival. The production did not take place; I don't know why. I knew the origin of the ta'ziyeh ritual and all the logistical complications that made it difficult to mount a production (the circular stage; the horses, etc.). I had also been many times to the Festival of Shiraz, and, while I had not had the chance to see an actual production of ta'ziyeh, I had heard the enthusiastic reviews of those who had. The idea of staging a ta'ziyeh continued to appeal to me. My meetings with Soudebeh Kia and Farrokh Gaffary led me to develop a large-scale program in the early 1990s for the Festival of Avignon, which I had directed since 1985.

France was the first non-Muslim country in which ta'ziyeh was performed. In 1990, in the middle of the Gulf War, my colleagues and I had undertaken a mission to Iran in the company of the press. We decided to devote the 1991 Festival of Avignon to Persian traditions. The productions and concerts would take place in the open air in a way that recalled the caravansaries that I had seen in Iran. It was a very bold move on behalf of the French authorities to invite a ta'ziyeh troupe to France only 12 years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Apart from political implications there were also social and dramatic connotations for these performances: How could the Shiite passion play be performed for a non-Muslim, non-Shiite audience in the city of Popes? In the end, more than 100 Iranian artists participated, and their performance did not pose either a diplomatic or political problem. My wish to see the bards of Khorasan, the musicians of Louristan and Balouchistan, the dervishes of Kurdistan, the zurkhaneh (the traditional Iranian sports club, lit., house of force or strength)—and also Shahram Nazeri's extraordinary concert in the Court of Honor of the Papal Palace— was fulfilled.

But the real surprise—the biggest surprise that summer—occurred in the beautiful cloister of the Celestines, between two chestnut trees more than 100 years old. The five performances of ta'ziyeh stunned audiences through the force of the play's narratives and the vocal abilities of the actors. Though ignorant of the symbolism and profound significance of what was taking place onstage, the spectators nevertheless understood the tragic dimensions of what they were watching. Something in the ta'ziyeh stirred the collective memory of the audience and reminded it of the Passion of Christ. The ta'ziyeh was a great success in Avignon and the performers were able to build bridges with the audience. The French press wrote rave reviews.

The ta'ziyeh in Avignon (with Hassan Fayaz) was a trial-run, a sort of introduction to the large-scale production which we had the chance to welcome to Paris nine years later for the Festival d'Automne. There, thanks to the administration of the Grand Hall of la Villette, we were able to erect a circus tent with 800 seats which allowed us to present the ta'ziyeh in all its fullness. The tradition of a circular stage was maintained as was the placement of the audience. Since many takiyehs and husseiniyehs in Iran are courtyards with awnings, this was an attempt to re-create as closely as possible the Iranian ta'ziyeh enviroment. The rest was in the hands of the performers. The ta'ziyeh proved that its theatricality and drama could overcome religious, linguistic, and cultural differences.

Prior to the ta'ziyeh performance in Paris, my colleagues and I had returned to Iran and seen a number [End Page 18] of ta'ziyehs in village squares and marketplaces. We had taken part in the suffering of the participants, admired the art of the narration, the ingenious use of the circular stage area, and the poignant music inspired by...

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