Fayaz joined a Taʹziyeh group when he was a child and worked with Mir Gham, a Master of the Taʹziyeh. He has recorded several illuminating yet painful memories from those years in which performing the Taʹziyeh was banned by the government:
On those days (1920–1930), we did not use many props or scenery to perform a Taʹziyeh in the streets or suburbs. A drum, a trumpet and a couple of turbans and robes. We blew into the trumpet and the crowd began to circle around us. They brought rugs and chairs and we performed for half an hour. Then we asked for blessing on everyone, and they usually rewarded us with some money… On one occasion it was the third of Muharram and we were performing a Taʹziyeh in a public place. Three police officers appeared. We were arrested and taken to the police station. They interrogated us and asked us questions such as how many years had we been performing, where had we performed and why were we performing! They kept us behind bars for seven or eight days for committing the crime of performing the Taʹziyeh!… At that time, Tehran was divided into twelve suburbs. When we were arrested in one suburb and taken to its police station, we were forced to sign a paper, giving our pledge not to perform in that suburb again. As soon as we were free, we moved to another suburb and performed there. If you investigate the archives of the police stations in those years you will find many files on people who were arrested on charges of performing the Taʹziyeh in public places… In order to be safe from police raids, we first of all had to use only a few props, and secondly had to perform at intersections so we could escape from one side when the police were coming from the other side.*25
I tried many times to gain access to these files, which could reveal the names of the Taʹ ziyeh performers and their groups and the plays, but unfortunately the police and the Ministry of the Interior rejected my requests for security reasons.
ACTING
The style of acting in the Taʹziyeh was developed from the art of ‘story-telling’. As already mentioned, story-telling, whether religious or epic, is one of the traditional Persian forms of performing art and made a great contribution to the development of the Taʹziyeh. Its greatest contribution was in the formation of the style of acting employed in Taʹziyeh performances.
As in story-telling, the actors of the Taʹziyeh are able to put themselves in the role or the character for a while, and then step out and narrate the story and be witnesses along with the audience. They enjoy the same freedom that story-tellers have in respect of liberty to move around and talk to the audience. In particular, the Taʹziyeh actor is free to improvise in any way that facilitates the portrayal of the characters and the events (Figures 37 and 38).
There is no character development in the Taʹziyeh, as most of the characters are stereotypes. Specific roles are played by the same actors throughout their lives. There is no unnecessary complexity of character, and everything the characters desire or do is made totally clear to both the performers and the audience. An actor usually chooses to play the role he will perform for the rest of his life on the basis of his physical appearance and the quality of his voice in relation to the appearance and voice qualities of the other members of the group. The actor who plays the role of Imam Hussein, for example, always plays that role. If for some reason he decides to change, he selects a role that is close to that of Imam Hussein. It is rare to see an actor who has played the role of Olya (a protagonist) ever to perform the role of Ashghya (an antagonist).
The actors of the Taʹziyeh are usually divided into four groups. The first group, Olya, comprises those performers who play the role of Imam Hussein and his relatives or followers. The second group, Ashghya, is made up of those who play the role of the killers of Imam Hussein and his followers. ‘Disguised actors’ is the name given to the third group. They are male actors who play female roles. The children comprise the final group of performers. Apart from being divided into four main character types, the Taʹ ziyeh actors are also classified in terms of their professional or amateur status. There are some actors who are paid for what they do; they are usually permanent members of a group and have major roles. But even they are not considered to be fully professional, as they all have other professions for eleven months of each year. These semi-professionals are engaged in performing the Taʹziyeh only in the month of Muharram. It is clear that after years of training, rehearsing and performing, these actors develop a highly professional level of skill. In addition to the ‘professionals’, there are those actors who occasionally join a group and are not paid for their work. These people usually perform in the Taʹziyeh as an act of religious devotion. Usually, they are not as skilful as those ‘professionals’ who are regular members of the Taʹziyeh groups.
37. Mirza Gholam Hussein, a leading actor of the Qajar era, in the role of Imam Abbas.
38. A contemporary actor of the Taziyeh, using a microphone on stage.
In the past, the salary or payment for professional Taʹziyeh performers was not necessarily in the form of money. If a group was performing in the house or takiyeh of a wealthy aristocrat, the payment would be in the form of cash and goods. However, if the group was performing in a village or small city, the payment would be in the form of provisions, especially such foodstuffs as rice, sugar, oil, and so on. Today, most of the Taʹziyeh groups receive money from both the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which is responsible for theatre activities, and from religious organizations that are patrons of such productions. Following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the various government organizations have tried to promote the Taʹziyeh as a religious-national artistic event. The increase in financial support for this form of theatre has helped the process of professionalism. Nevertheless, even today, no Taʹziyeh performer would consider himself primarily as an ‘actor’, or regard his performing as a ‘profession’. Taʹ ziyeh actors prefer to regard what they do as an act of religious devotion. Ahmad Jasbi, a Master of the Taʹziyeh, clearly outlines the dual artistic and religious task that is undertaken by a good Taʹziyeh player. His performing talent and his moral and physical attributes are equally important. He says:
The Taʹziyeh is not simply a declamation of poems. The Taʹziyeh is a ‘ritual’, a ritual of mourning. The singer/player must be an artist. He must be of good character. The player of the Taʹziyeh is someone who plays the role of a saint. His heart, mind and appearance must be matched with those of the character he plays. Sometimes I see an actor who has a rough appearance playing an Imam instead of playing the Shimr, and that does not look right. I have even seen such a player performing the role of Joseph and this is not convincing for the audience, who believe that Joseph must have a beautiful face. A player must know how to ride a horse, as riding a horse well creates the appropriate impression on an audience. Those who play the role of Olya (the good characters) must have good and innocent faces. In private life, such players should be of good character, not only during the holy month of Muharram but all the time. They must be good in their hearts.*26
Most Taʹziyeh groups try to observe the guidelines for casting by choosing actors of good appearance for the good characters. Whether or not these actors are of ‘good character’ in real life is impossible to know. It is true, however, that playing the part of a holy man gives the actor a sacred place among the people even if only for the short time of the performance. I have witnessed many times people taking their children up to the stage during a performance in order that they may be touched by these actors. Such ‘holy’ actors confer a blessing on the children. The power of the Taʹziyeh is such that it transforms an ordinary actor into a person of religious standing.
The religious faith that is shared by both performers and audience endows the Taʹziyeh actor with a mystical power and assists in making the characters completely believable even while everything else in the Taʹziyeh appears to be working in against the creation of such belief. A good example of this apparent contradiction occurs in the Taʹziyeh of Imam Reza. In this Taʹziyeh, a blind man goes to see the Imam and asks him to heal him and give him back
his sight. In the performance of this play that I saw, the actor pretended to be blind and at the same time read his lines from a manuscript that he had in his hand! The audience did not worry about this apparent contradiction. This ‘natural alienation’ operates in all Taʹziyeh performances and has the effect of making the performances more theatrical and, paradoxically, more natural at the same time. Peter Brook described this style of acting in the Taʹziyeh as follows: ‘In the Taʹziyeh there is no attempt, theatrically speaking, to do anything too well: the acting does not demand characterisations that are too complete, detailed or realistic.’27
Taʹziyeh acting depends for its power on the interplay between the actor’s Voice’ and his skill in ‘demonstration’. The voice is used to arouse the emotions of the audience members, while the ‘demonstration’ of the characters ensures that a distance is kept between the actors and the emotionally aroused spectators. This form of ‘demonstrational acting’ helps to stop the spectators from losing their self-control and hurting those actors who perform the roles of the killers of Imam Hussein and his followers.28
SCENERY, PROPS AND COSTUMES
We have seen that the stage of the Taʹziyeh is simply an empty space, and such a stage does not require much scenery or many props. The few scenic elements and props that are used in the Taʹziyeh are symbols that are familiar to both players and spectators. On such a stage, a pot of water becomes a river, and a branch of palm represents the Karbala plain.
As the unities of space and time are not observed in the Taʹziyeh, the actors are able to move easily from one place to another and from one time to the other without the restrictions associated with the theatre of realism. ‘Verisimilitude’ in terms of scenery, props and costumes simply has no relevance.
In the early days of the Taʹziyeh, the scenery, like the text and the performance, was ‘simple’ and ‘symbolic’. However, as the Taʹziyeh was supported more and more by aristocrats, especially by the Royal Court of the Qajar dynasty, scenic elements became more elaborate and in some cases became so opulent that the original nature of this simple ritualistic form, with its strong connection with ordinary people, was lost. Abdollah Mostofi, a nobleman and author of the Qajar period, vividly describes how the Taʹziyeh of Joseph was performed in the Takiyeh Dowlat with such elaborate scenery that the play itself was drowned beneath an ocean of scenic splendour. He describes how, in this performance, the Egyptian merchant entered the takiyeh with more than two hundred camels and arrived at the well and proceeded to buy Joseph from his brothers.29 There are some photographs from this production that show that Mostofi’s description of the use of such elaborate scenery and props in the Taʹziyeh of Joseph, and those of Solomon and Queen of Sheba (Soliaman va Malakeh Saba), were not an exaggeration.
This use of elaborate scenery and props did not last long: when the Qajar dynasty collapsed in 1925 and a new regime with anti-Arab and anti-Islamic views replaced it, the Taʹziyeh returned to its previous simple method of staging and again had to seek the support of the ordinary people. This return to simplicity was partly necessitated by the fact that, the new regime did not approve of the Taʹziyeh. As we saw earlier, Fayaz, the Master of the Taʹziyeh, recorded how Taʹziyeh performers of this period had to be free from any accessories so that they could run away easily when they were confronted by the police who were trying to suppress their performances. Even after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, when the religious nature of the Taʹziyeh returned this form of drama to favour with the government, the simplicity of the scenery, props and costumes remained. In most of the performances I have witnessed during the last 20 years (1977–97), a rug, a pot of water, a branch of palm, a few simple chairs, some straw,30 and a couple of horses were all the props that Taʹziyeh groups used on the stage. This simple and symbolic method has also been used for the costumes. There is no tradition of ‘historical authenticity’ as far as Taʹ ziyeh costumes are concerned. Even though most of the events and the characters are historical figures who come from a definite era and place, there is no attempt to dress them in historically accurate costumes. Taʹziyeh groups use whatever costumes are available, whether they be old Persian costumes or Arabian and contemporary ones.31 Every character, however, uses a colour that symbolizes that character and the part he plays in the tragedy of the Karbala. This colour symbolism helps the audience to recognise the character type immediately as well as providing colour to the overall spectacle.
39. The Maryrdom of lmam Abbas, 1997.
Olya or good characters are usually dressed in green and white. Green is the colour of holiness, and is associated with the Prophet. White is the colour of purity and innocence. Two main types of costume are used by Olya. The first is a long Arabian garment, and the second is a combat dress copied from that worn by the characters of the Persian epic of Shah-nameh. Naturally, Imam Hussein is dressed in a long green or white Arabian garment with a green turban. On a few occasions, he wears a man’s loose sleeveless garment coloured brown or black. For the combat dress, Ali Akbar wears chain mail and a helmet decorated with long colourful feathers and boots. In addition he carries a sword and a shield (Figure 40). A good example of how colour is used in the Taʹziyeh can be found in the Taʹziyeh of Hurr, who is one of the warriors of the Karbala battle. At one point in this Taʹziyeh, Hurr is doubtful about whether to fight against Imam Hussein or to join forces with him. Hurr wears a yellow costume and this colour symbolizes his hesitation. When he finally decides to fight for Imam Hussein, he wears a helmet that has white feathers, and this indicates that he has joined the camp of Imam Hussein.
Ashghya or evil characters usually wear red or orange combat dress. These colours symbolize the bloodthirstiness of the character. The disguised actors who play the roles of women are all dressed in simple long robes and their faces are covered by black veils. On most occasions the children are dressed in simple long garments of white or black. The photos and the paintings from the Qajar period show us that the costumes at that time were very elaborate, as the performers had access to the wardrobes of the royal court and of various aristo crats.
The most important costume used in the Taʹziyeh, as pointed out earlier, is the kafan. According to the Islamic tradition, when a Muslim man or women is dead, he or she is wrapped in a simple white shroud and buried. There is no coffin. This shroud has become a symbol in Islamic cultures of the readiness of a person to die or to be martyred. When someone wears the kafan, he expresses his determination to fight to the death. In many Taʹziyehs that depict Imam Hussein or his followers going to the battlefield, they all wear the kafan, and this clearly symbolizes their impending martyrdom. The sight of characters wearing the kafan triggers a very strong emotional reaction from the audience and helps to create a highly charged scene.
Two other elements of the mise en scène needs to be discussed, and they are the use of flora and fauna and the use of masks. Water, earth, plants and animals all play significant roles in the Taʹziyeh and may be used as symbol of either a character or a community. In the Taʹziyeh of The Martyrdom of Imam Abbas, for example, water becomes the central image of the play and is the element that drives the plot forwards.32
40. The Martyrdom of Imam Hussein, 1982
In the Taʹziyeh of The Lion and the Fazeh (Shir va Fazeh), following the massacre of Imam Hussein’s followers, a lion enters and guards the bodies of the martyrs. The same lion, in the Taʹziyeh of Imam Ali, enters and mourns for him, and this is symbolized by the lion throwing chopped straw on his head following Imam Ali’s assassination. A further example of the way ‘nature’ shows itself to be in sympathy with the forces of good is shown in the Taʹziyeh of Imam Rez, in which a deer plays a very important role. The deer is usually played by a small child wearing a deer mask. I have seen a production of this Taʹziyeh in which a ‘puppet-deer’ was used on stage and his lines were spoken by the assistant stage manager.
Most of the masks used in the Taʹziyeh are grotesque and are worn by comic characters. The masks are mostl
y made of leather and cardboard, although a few are made of leaves. These masks have big mouths that function as megaphones. The most famous mask is that of a demon, used in the Taʹziyeh of Binding the Demons Toes (Figure 41). A demon makes trouble for the people and so Imam Ali comes to the rescue and binds the demon’s toes with a strand of hair.
In the Taʹziyeh of Imam Reza, a mask of an old woman is also used. It is interesting to note that this is probably the only place in a Taʹziyeh that we see the face of a woman, although, of course, it is in the form of a mask. One final way in which masks are used in the Taʹziyeh is to represent the heads of those who are killed on the battlefield of the Karbala plain.
MUSIC AND SONG
A Taʹziyeh play is written entirely in verse, and most parts are sung and/or recited in ringing tones by the actors. Consequently the place of music in the Taʹziyeh is as important as it is in the art of opera. Instrumental music, however, has no significant role in the Taʹziyeh, and vocal music dominates a performance. The music is played only between the scenes or during the fighting as a sound effect. Of the role of music in the Taʹziyeh, M.R.Darvishi writes:
The main part that music plays in the Taʹziyeh is in the form of vocal music. This music is based on Persian traditional songs and divisions (and sometimes music from the country areas)… When the musical instruments were banned by high Shiʹa clergies, it was the Taʹziyeh and other religious ritual that served to protect and gave voice to our vocal music.*33
41. The mask of the demon in the Taʹziyeh of Binding the Demon’s Toes.
The Islamic Drama Page 13