AN ANALYSIS OF ECLECTIC THEATRE IN IRAN BASED ON TA’ZIYEH FARIDEH ALIZADEH CULTURAL CENTRE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR University 2015of Malaya AN ANALYSIS OF ECLECTIC THEATRE IN IRAN BASED ON TA’ZIYEH FARIDEH ALIZADEH THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY CULTURAL CENTRE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR University of Malaya 2015 UNIVERSITI MALAYA ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION Name of Candidate: Farideh Alizadeh Registration/Matric No: RHA110003 Name of Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis (“this Work”): An Analysis of Eclectic Theatre in Iran Based on Ta’ziyeh Field of Study: Drama/Theatre I do solemnly and sincerely declare that: (1) I am the sole author/writer of this Work; (2) This Work is original; (3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the work and its authorship have been acknowledged in this Work; (4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor ought I reasonably to know that the making of this Work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work; (5) I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the University of Malaya (‘UM’), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of UM having been first had and obtained; (6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any other action as may be determined by UM. Candidate’sUniversity Signature of Date Malaya Subscribed and solemnly declared before, Witness’s Signature Date Name: Designation: ii This Thesis is lovingly dedicated to my parents. University of Malaya iii ABSTRACT This present study analyses a kind of eclectic theatre in Iran based on Ta’ziyeh. Ta’ziyeh is well known as a kind of ritual form in Iran which contains tradition, religion and myth. In the contemporary setting, many directors and playwrights have been influenced by the form and content of Ta’ziyeh and use it in their works. The purpose of studying here is to analyse plays which influenced by Ta’ziyeh. Eclectic theatre is a new theory in postmodern theatre studies, which can be manifested in connection with theatre activities of Iran. Specific theatrical forms have been developed in many geographical-cultural areas of the world which are indigenous to those areas. Ta’ziyeh is a kind of comprehensive indigenous form considered as being the national form of Iranian theatre which have pervasive influence in the Iranian works of drama and play. It originates from some famous mythologies and rites such as Mithraism, Sug-e-Siavush (The Lamentation of Siavush) and Yadegar-e-Zariran. Ta’ziyeh was developed in the Safavid period (1502– 1736 CE) in Iran when the king of Iran allowed Ta’ziyeh groups to perform it at Muharram time. Originally the Ta’ziyeh depicts the Karbala events. Generally, the Ta’ziyeh plays can be divided according to subject matter and content into three basic categories. First, there are those plays that deal only with the events of the Karbala and the martyrdom of Imam Husain and his followers. Second, there are those that deal with other subjects taken from a variety of sources such as history. The third part deals with farcicalUniversity plays, such as ‘feminine Ta’ziyeh’. Although,of Malayathey seem to be separate, they are iv still connected to the Karbala events through either a verbal or a staged digression1 (guriz2) that dramatizes the suffering and death of Imam Husain. The Ta’ziyeh has influenced many Iranian theatre directors in recent years. Most Iranian directors and playwrights, especially since the 1970s, still think and write in a western style. They have brought the ‘form’ and ‘content’ of Ta’ziyeh into their work and combined them with western influenced theatre styles to create a new genre of works. This new style is known as ‘eclectic theatre’ or ‘eclecticism’, which is a new style in postmodernism. For instance, the play A Lonely Person’s Story is taken from the Ta’ziyeh the Martyrdom of Imam Husain (Amini, 2004). Ashaghe (Story of Love) (Rahmanian, 2007) and Ghadamshad the Minstrel’s Martyrdom-Playing in Tehran (Rahmanian, 2006) were taken from ‘feminine Ta’ziyeh’. In this study, I will analyse these three mentioned plays, based on ‘eclectic theatre’, as clear examples of Ta’ziyeh- influenced theatre as eclectic theatre in Iran. To this purpose, I have made some classifications and criteria determined by watching performances, based on techniques and methods of Ta’ziyeh, and analysed those plays through eclecticism as an alternative form in postmodern theatre. This method has proved favourable for comparative studies on one part, while the Iranian theatrical forms have been more clear and researchable, on the other. University of Malaya 1 Verbal digression: for more information refer to Malekpour, The Islamic Drama (2004: 95). 2 This word has taken from Malekpour (2004: 95). v ABSTRAK Kajian ini menganalisis satu ‘teater eklektik’ di Iran berdasarkan ‘Ta'ziyeh’. Ta’ziyeh merupakan sejenis ritual di Iran yang kaya dengan tradisi, agama dan mitos. Dalam konteks kontemporari, pengarah dan pengarang drama dipengaruhi oleh bentuk dan kandungan Ta’ziyeh serta menggunakan elemen-elemen ini dalam karya mereka.Yang mempunyai pengaruh seni persembalhan Ta’ziyeh. Teater eklektik merupakan teori baru dalam pengajian teater pascamoden. Hubungan antara teater eklektik dengan pementasan teater di Iran jelas kelihatan dan akan dianalisa dalam kajian ini. Bentuk-bentuk teater yang khusus telah lahir dan dipentaskan di pelbagai kawasan geografi budaya di dunia. Ta’ziyeh adalah sejenis teater asli Iran yang dianggap sebagai teater kebangsaan Iran. Teater ini telah banyak mempengaruhi karya drama dan teater di Iran. Teater Ta’ziyeh dipercayai mempunyai asal usul dari mitos dan upacara-upacara tradisi seperti Mithraism, The Lamentation of Siavush dan Yadegar-e-Zariran. Ta’ziyeh diperkembangkan pada zaman Safavid (1502-1736 CE) di Iran. Raja pada zaman tersebut memberi kebenaran kepada kumpulan-kumpulan Ta’ziyeh untuk membuat pementasan teater tersebut pada bulan Muharram. Pada mulanya, Ta’ziyeh hanya menggambarkan upacara-upacara Karbala. Secara amnya, teater Ta’ziyeh boleh dibahagikan kepada tiga kategori mengikut kandungan. Kategori pertama adalah khusus kepada teater yang menceritakan upacara-upacara Karbala dan kisah kematian Imam HusainUniversity serta pengikut-pengikutnya. Kategori of kedua pulaMalaya merangkumi cerita-cerita dari pelbagai sumber seperti sejarah. Kategori ketiga ialah teater yang berunsurkan jenaka seperti ‘Ta’ziyeh feminin’. Walaupun pembahagian kategori ini kelihatan seolah-olah mengasingkan jenis-jenis Ta’ziyeh, namun teater Ta’ziyeh masih berkait rapat dengan vi upacara Karbala dari segi verbal digression atau staged digression3 (guriz4) yang menceritakan seksaan yang dilalui olehImm Husain hingga kematian baginda. Ta’ziyeh telah banyak mempengaruhi pengarah teater Iran. Kebanyakkan pengarah dan pengarang drama Iran, terutamanya sejak tahun 1970an masih berfikir dan menulis dalam gaya barat. Mereka telah membawa masuk bentuk dan kandungan Ta’ziyeh ke dalam karya mereka dan menggabungkan dengan gaya-gaya teater pengaruh barat. Ini telah menghasilkan genre karya baru yang dikenali sebagai ‘teater eklektik’ atau ‘eklektisisma’, iaitu sejenis gaya baru dalam teater pascamoden. Sebagai contoh, teater the Play A Lonely Person’s Story telah dipetik dari Ta’ziyeh the Martyrdom of Imam Husain (Amini, 2004) manakala Ashaghe (Story of Love) (Rahmanian, 2007) dan Ghadamshad the Minstrel’s Martyrdom-Playing in Tehran (Rahmanian, 2006) pula telah dipetik dari ‘Ta’ziyeh feminin’. Ketiga-tiga karya di atas akan dianalisa dalam kajian ini berdasarkan ‘teater eklektik’. Analisis ini akan dijadikan sebagai contoh yang jelas menunjukkan teater pengaruh Ta’ziyeh merupakan teater eklektik di Iran. Kriteria dan klasifikasi juga akan dibuat berdasarkan kajian pementasan teater-teater tersebut, menggunakan teknik dan metod Ta’ziyeh. Teater-teater tersebut juga akan dianalisa menggunakan teori ekeltisisma sebagai alternatif kepada teater pascamoden. Metod ini telah dibuktikan sebagai metod yang paling efektif dalam kajian perbandingan, manakala bentuk-bentuk teater Iran pula adalah lebih jelas dan memerlukan penyelidikan. University of Malaya 3 Verbal digression: sila rujuk Malekpour, The Islamic Drama (2004: 95) untuk keterangan lanjut. 4 Terma ini telah diambil dari Malekpour (2004: 95). vii PUBLICATION The following publications are based on the research presented in this thesis and may contain results and material presented herein. ISI-Cited Publication; Non-ISI and Conference Presentation: 2015: Alizadeh, Farideh. & Hashim, Mohd Nasir. (2015). Xenophobic Attitude, as reflected in The Merchant of Venice. Journal of Current Psychology. [ISI-Accepted] 2015: Alizadeh, Farideh. & Hashim, Mohd Nasir. (2015). Reflection on In-group and out-group on Shakespeare’s Works. Journal of WSEAS. View article: Google scholar, Academia.edu. Researchgate. 2015: Alizadeh, Farideh. & Hashim, Mohd Nasir. (2015). Role of Cultural Teahouses on Sustainability Development on Traditional Theatre. Sustainability — Open Access Journal. [ISI- Submitted] 2015: