Breaking Down Borders and Bridging Barriers: Iranian Taziyeh Theatre Khosrow Shahriari A thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Media, Film and Theatre University of New South Wales July 2006 ABSTRACT In the twentieth century, Western theatre practitioners, aware of the gap between actor and spectator and the barrier between the stage and the auditorium, experimented with ways to bridge this gap and cross barriers, which in the western theatrical tradition have been ignored over the centuries. Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Piscator, Brecht, Grotowski, and more recently Peter Brook are only a few of the figures who tried to engage spectators and enable them to participate more fully in the play. Yet in Iran there has existed for over three centuries a form of theatre which, thanks to its unique method of approaching reality, creates precise moments in which the worlds of the actor and the spectator come together in perfect unity. It is called ‘taziyeh’, and the aim of this thesis is to offer a comprehensive account of this complex and sophisticated theatre. The thesis examines taziyeh through the accounts of eyewitnesses, and explores taziyeh’s method of acting, its form, concepts, the aims of each performance, its sources and origins, and the evolution of this Iranian phenomenon from its emergence in the tenth century. Developed from the philosophical point of view of Iranian mysticism on the one hand, and annual mourning ceremonies with ancient roots on the other, taziyeh has been performed by hundreds of different professional groups for more than three hundred years. Each performance is a significant event in the experience of actors and spectators. The thesis argues that through a careful and comprehensive exploration of taziyeh from its emergence to our time, we can ultimately experience a new horizon in theatre in which we may discover theatrical potentiality and dynamism in a way that has not yet been achieved in conventional Western theatre. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To thousands of anonymous and humble taziyeh performers whose hearts beat in their performances and who, with all their love and passion, patiently dedicated their lives to taziyeh theatre. Through their complex work they created one of the most complicated theatrical forms in the world, and by playing with reality, they tried to change their lives and the surrounding world across centuries and during the toughest periods of Iranian history. To those visitors who witnessed first-hand taziyeh performances and who, by writing about it enthusiastically, tried to convey their impressions and share their feelings with others. Without these witnesses we would have been deprived of invaluable information about taziyeh performances in its golden age. Finally, to those researchers and scholars who have tried to explain taziyeh according to their understanding. I dedicate this work to them all. And finally, to the passion, enthusiasm, truth and love of Gissoo Shakeri. I would like to thank Dr. Lesley Stern for her support. I thank also Professor Jim Davis, whose reactions to the techniques of taziyeh performances and the incidents on taziyeh stages were encouraging. My special thanks go to Dr. John Golder and his wonderful memory and patience. In regular meeting with him, we discussed every single word. His precision, memory and comments restructured this thesis. I would like to thank associate professor Gay Hawkins and Dr. Jodi Brooks for their supports. I would also like to thank all the UNSW library staff, especially the inter-library loans staff. Through them I was able to locate and order reference materials from different parts of the world. Without their support, access to many of those old resources would have been impossible. My thanks also to the kind and helpful administrative staff in the School of Media, Film and Theatre, particularly Katy Arnold, Jennifer Beale and Julie Miller. I would like to thank Anne Collins and especially Dr. Suzanne Eggins who read my entire work and whose comments and corrections gave my work better form. And finally I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Michelle Langford. I found her too late to enjoy her full knowledge but still in time to accompany me on the final steps of this work and her lovely suggestions and comments gave my work the final shape. Without her this work could never have been shaped and finished as it is. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ................................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................ 9 Taziyeh theatre........................................................................................................................................ 10 The nineteenth-century eyewitness accounts.......................................................................................... 14 Twentieth century scholarly research ..................................................................................................... 16 Thesis outline ......................................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter One........................................................................................................................................ 19 Chapter Two ....................................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter Three ..................................................................................................................................... 23 Chapter Four....................................................................................................................................... 23 Appendices ......................................................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER ONE Taziyeh: Persian popular epic theatre from the sixteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century ........................................................................................................................ 25 Introduction: an historical overview of Taziyeh..................................................................................... 26 A short review of literature about taziyeh…………………………....…………………………………28 Eyewitness accounts of taziyeh performances: (1) 1667–1849 .............................................................. 31 Selection of accounts.............................................................................................................................. 35 Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1667)........................................................................................................... 36 William Francklin (1787) ................................................................................................................... 40 James Morier (1808–1809) and William Ouseley (1810–1812)......................................................... 44 Ilya Nikolaevich Berezin (1842–1843)............................................................................................... 60 Lady Sheil (1849)............................................................................................................................... 61 Eyewitness accounts of taziyeh performances: (2) 1855–1895 .............................................................. 66 Le Comte de Gobineau....................................................................................................................... 66 Eyewitness ‘scripts’ of taziyeh: Gobineau and Pelly.......................................................................... 75 Lewis Pelly and other eyewitness accounts........................................................................................ 87 CHAPTER TWO Taziyeh’s sources and origins........................................................................................ 90 The ancient roots of taziyeh.................................................................................................................... 91 Mysticism ............................................................................................................................................... 93 ‘I am God’ or unification of contradiction.......................................................................................... 94 The Conference of the Birds............................................................................................................... 96 The events of Karbala............................................................................................................................. 99 Annual mourning ceremonies........................................................................................................... 100 From mourning ceremonies and the emergence of Iranian mysticism to taziyeh................................