The Islamic Drama

By Jamshid Malekpour. Portland: Frank Cass, 2004. Pp. xii+188. ISBN: 0714684465 (Pbk. $43.95).

Jamshid Malekpour’s The Islamic Drama shatters misconceptions among Western theatre scholars about the absence of an indigenous Islamic theatre. This comprehensive examination of the Ta’ziyeh (religious plays of mourning) makes it possible for serious students of theatre, religion, and culture to gain an understanding of plot, form, content, and production. Developed over time into Iran’s contemporary hallmark theatre, the Ta’ziyeh stands as the sole surviving indigenous Persian drama, performed today in contrast to their twentieth-century tradition of Western-infl uenced theatre. Delineating the genesis and evolution of this unique dramatic form, Malekpour establishes the infl uence of religious, political, mythological, literary, oral, and performance traditions, dating as far back as 2500 BC. The author examines the prevalence of Persian, Arab-Islamic, and pre-Islamic cultural authority in the Ta’ziyeh. The Islamic Drama clarifi es connections between historical practices, ritual, and the spiritual and dramatic worlds of Iranian Shi’a (Islamic sect) today. Malekpour’s critical analysis relies heavily on primary source material, consisting of some 150 classical and modern Ta’ziyeh manuscripts collected in Iran between 1972 and 1992. Whenever possible, he compares the written text to practices in production, differentiating between improvisational performance and scripted narrative. Secondary sources—such as historical, religious, literary, and anthropological investigation— combine with Western theatre theory (Peter Brook and Bertolt Brecht, among others) to provide insight into contemporary performance. Additionally, Malekpour’s previous Persian language scholarship, Drama in Iran (1985), Persian Passion Plays (1987), History of World Theatre (1990), and Theatre and Ritual (1992) supply rich source material. Malekpour relies further on his own theatrical experiences for analysis. His background includes directing in theatre and fi lm, as well as screenwriting. As a theatre academic, Malekpour’s philosophical approach straddles the Persian and Western worlds, having earned his degrees from Tehran University, City University of New York, and the Australian National University. Malekpour lays out the book in a logically linear fashion, providing for a concise, explicit, and highly accessible format. Introductions to historical, cultural, religious, and 87 88 Book & Performance Reviews performative ritual practices in the early chapters pave the way for later discussions of this unique genre. In-depth explication of performance and production accompanies vivid production images to provide fascinating, comprehensive material for Western theatre scholars’ initial encounters with this unfamiliar territory. Since Ta’ziyeh is rarely performed outside of Iran, additional photos and illustrations of paintings, carpets, and processions associated with the mourning and commemoration of Hussein (grandson to the Prophet Muhammad, and the story’s martyr) prove to be invaluable visual resources. Such visuals assist in bridging the gap between secular theatre scholarship and the Ta’ziyeh’s spiritual and performative roles in the Shi’a Islamic world, where emphasis is placed on the faith, redemptive suffering, and martyrdom of seventh-century hero, Imam Hussein. Early chapters demarcate historical practices leading up to today’s theatrical practices by Iran’s Shi’a Muslims. In order that the reader might better understand the spiritual signifi cance of the death of Hussein and his followers, Malekpour sketches in the back story to the siege on the plains of Karbala, carefully avoiding judgment for or against either the Sunni or the Shi’a sects. Instead, the author approaches the “Ta’ziyeh as a form of art dealing more with imagination and fi ction than with the facts or the history” of the events at Karbala (4-5). Although conclusive proof is frequently diffi cult to document when engaging in historiography, the author makes a compelling case for the emergence of drama in Egypt as simultaneous with that in Greece. According to Malekpour, this non-Western dramatic form combines with pre-Christian era religions of Egypt and Persia to directly infl uence today’s Ta’ziyeh. Just as the historical background clarifi es the origins and evolution of Ta’ziyeh in the former chapters, the later ones explicate details about genre and production to give the reader an inside look at where it is today. Plot description illuminates dramatic structure. Issues of authorship are raised in conjunction with script development through performance and improvisation. Analysis of performance space, audience-actor proximity and relationships, acting styles, stage management, sound effects, delivery of verse, the symbolic use of props, and costume design, informs readers about production practices. The book’s fi nal chapters, brief as they are, examine adaptations of Ta’ziyeh in the Islamic Diaspora, currents of twentieth-century performance, and implications for future productions. While Malekpour considers the drama’s variants abroad, exploration of metamorphosis and the resulting new forms leaves the reader inadequately informed in this area. The account of the Ta’ziyeh’s appropriation as a political tool during the twentieth century rationalizes the waxing and waning of its popularity over the past several decades. The Ta’ziyeh’s future, Malekpour suggests, will be closely bound to religious and political developments in Iran. Finally, for scholars seeking to further expand their knowledge of the Ta’ziyeh, the book closes with a bibliography that cuts across both the English and Persian languages. Of further importance to theatre scholars is the author’s Appendix summary and evaluation of available Ta’ziyeh collections for further study. This section incorporates dates of initial publications, current locations, and script titles included in the collections. While Peter Chelkowski’s much earlier anthology, Ta’ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran (1979), provides a valuable introduction to the drama by Persian and Western scholars, Malekpour’s The Islamic Drama is the companion text that allows researchers Book & Performance Reviews 89 to better understand the form’s production and history. Malekpour’s The Islamic Drama makes a thorough introduction to, and overview of, the Ta’ziyeh’s form and content available to Western scholars. His careful research and inside knowledge of the religion and culture makes The Islamic Drama essential reading for theatre scholars of the Arab world, religious drama, and for world theatre classes. Dixie Beadle University of Wisconsin-Madison