Imam Khamenei

What was Imam Khamenei's remark on "Prophet Jacob's" theatrical play?

Drama means acting on the stage before the audience. Contrary to the cinema and films where you watch something from the screen, you feel individuals in the theater. You hear what they have to say from them. There can be many constructive things in drama and student drama.

Another method to attract students is by using artistic fields that have received little attention. One of these fields is drama: dramatic arts. Unfortunately, in our artistic environment, drama was born neglected from the start. In other words, our drama has either been absurd drama such as ru-howzi plays [the plays that are performed around a little pool, called a "houz," inside a house] or plays that oppose a particular phenomenon without having clear direction. Besides, our drama uses vague and ambiguous language. Some individuals think that drama should use ambiguous, symbolic, or mysterious words, but this is not the case. Drama means acting on the stage before ab audience. Contrary to the cinema and films where you watch something on a screen, you feel individuals in the theatre. You hear what they have to say live. There can be many constructive elements to drama or student drama. Artistic groups should gather and express true Islamic concepts through the art of drama.

Many years ago - perhaps about 20 years ago - a play was performed for us in this same Hussainiyah. It was about Jacob[Job], the Prophet, and it lasted a while. It lasted about one or two hours. When it was finished, I went to the director and said, "I have read the story of Jacob hundreds of times in the Holy Quran, but I had not understood from the Holy Quran - during all this time - what I understood from your theater performance." Is this insignificant?

 

Jul 11, 2015

Tags

  • arts
  • theater

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