London, Rome, Tehran, Amsterdam to go to Europe

London, Rome, Tehran, Amsterdam [Reconsider Your Image of Me], a co-production of the Virgule Performing Arts Company from Iran and STET The English Theatre from the Netherlands, has gone on stage in Tehran’s Hafez Hall.

Mehr News Agency on November 17 reported the opening of London, Rome, Tehran, Amsterdam in Tehran, saying the play with a cast from Iran, England, Italy and the Netherlands will be performed in Europe in 2015. The following is part of that report:

The playfirst hit the stage on November 16 with the Dutch ambassador in attendance. The stage performance will run until December 12.

The play, which has brought together Iranian and non-Iranian cast, will have stage performance in Europe in 2015.

“The play is about daily life of people in different countries and shows how media and the Internet form stereotypes about other nations,” Mehr News Agency quoted Arvand Dashtaray, the leader of group, as saying.

He hailed the play as another intercultural experience of the ensemble and said that “the play is in accordance with cultural studies and addresses intercultural misunderstandings.”

In a news article the Dutch embassy said the following about the play, “The performance examines a current topic between Iran and the West, namely what are the images that we have of ‘the Other’, and to what extent fears, fantasies and imaginations are based on truth. By initiating a direct meeting with the Other and listening to each other’s stories, this group aims to create new images, based on the stories of the people who wouldn’t usually make the headlines. The piece is a multi-media, highly physical, speech performance.”

“It includes the actors’ own stories, dialogue between the actors, video installations with short documentaries about daily life in the countries of origin of the actors, and video collages of cultural milestones from these cultures. The physical form of the piece produces a third language. […]”