ABEL AND CAIN
directed by Samaneh Zandinejad in collaboration with Mohammad Reza Aliakbari and consulted by Grzegorz Ziółkowski
The miniature is inspired by the well-known story of envy and fratricide. It focuses on the feeling of guilt and a dream of redemption through music.
Abel and Cain (video)
Photo album ATIS 2015 NICHE
The miniature was created and shared during ATIS NICHE (September 2015) in Brzezinka’s Room of the Tree. Its another version, consulted by Grzegorz Ziółkowski, was developed and presented in the Theatre Laboratory Space in Wrocław on 23 and 24 February 2016 (with support from Marta Pautrzak, Poland).
With texts (in Persian and English) inspired by Abbas Maroufi’s novel Symphony of the Dead, a quotation from The Gulistan by Sa’di and Quran, and a traditional Persian song
This is Orhan.
He didn’t touch woman’s body.
His mother smiled at him rarely.
And no one loved him.
I am the heir of Cain and my hands are colored with my brother’s blood.
Fragment inspired by one of the chapters of Abbas Maroufi’s Symphony of the Dead
English translation by Mohammad Reza Aliakbari
Mohammad Reza Aliakbari (Iran), born in 1982, started working in theatre as an actor in 2003. He graduated in theatre directing from the University of Tehran and recently graduated in acting from Tarbiyat Modares University with the thesis A Study on Acting in Jerzy Grotowski’s Theatre. He managed the international section of the 17th Iran International Festival of University Theatre IIFUT in 2014. He participated in workshops with Odin Teatret and Lalish Theaterlabor, and on Meyerhold’s biomechanics, as well as in seminars led by Prof Paul Allain among others. He works for radio and performs in many professional theatres in Iran. He translated Peter Brook’s With Grotowski: Theatre is Just a Form (ed. Paul Allain, Georges Banu and Grzegorz Ziółkowski) into Persian (published in 2016). He participated in ATIS 2015 STARS and NICHE.
Samaneh Zandinejad (Iran), born in 1984. She graduated in theatre directing from Tarbiyat Modares University. She has worked as an actress in performances and films. In 2006 she founded Madreseh Theatre Group with whom she has directed five performances. She won the best directing prize at the 30th Fadjr Theatre Festival in Tehran in 2012. She directed Dolls in Silence (2013) – a performance based on a true story about the self-immolation of an Iranian woman. She also produced two performances in collaboration with visual artists in the field of performance art. Recently, she worked in the selection committee of the 18th Iran International Festival of University Theatre IIFUT in 2015. She participated in ATIS 2015 STARS and NICHE.