ITALY: IRANIAN PUPPETS DANCE TO MUSIC OF ITALIAN MASTER

Adnkronos International Italia
Oct 3, 2008
Italy

Rome, 3 Oct. (AKI) – Forty Iranian puppets are to dance on stage to
the music of Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi, in a rare production
being staged in the northern city of Turin on Saturday.

The puppet show, directed by Iranian Behrooz Gharibpour, brings to
the stage William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ presented with the music
of Verdi at the Incanti Festival.

Twenty-five girls control the puppets in the theatre production. The
company previously staged an Iranian tragedy by poet Abolghassem
Ferdowsi at Rome’s Argentina Theatre using the music of Armenian,
Lori Tjeknavorian.

But it is rare for puppets to be seen interpreting a
tragedy. Gharibpour, who studied theatre in Rome at the end of
the 1970s, said there was a mistaken view that puppets were only
"superficial" distraction for children.

"Often when you think of puppets, you immediately think of children,
and when you speak about children, you think of everything that is
stupid or superficial," Gharibpour told Adnkronos International (AKI).

"Puppets and children are serious things, above all I consider children
philosophers with limited experience."

The director said unlike Europe where the tradition of puppetry was
disappearing, in Iran, China and Japan puppet theatre was a serious
act, directed at adults and to present tragedies.

Former consul for cultural affairs at the Italian Embassy in Tehran,
Felicetta Ferraro, is very enthusiastic about the Iranian puppetry
and its interpretation of Macbeth. " A true masterpiece," said the
former diplomat.

The company’s Macbeth ran for three months in Tehran to a full house.

"Macbeth is a double masterpiece," said the director. "Because it
combines a master work by a great writer like Shakespeare and a great
musician like Verdi."