Iranian scholars Mahmud Haddadi, Mahmud Hosseinzad, Saeid Firuzabadi, Ahmad Saatchian, and Asghar Nuri will be speaking during the online session, which will stream live on the institute’s Instagram at 11 am.
Dürrenmatt’s works have been highly regarded in Iran by translators, directors, and theatergoers.
His “The Visit” was translated into Persian by the celebrated director Hamid Samandarian, who also staged the play several times, the last of which was in March 2008 at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall.
Samandarian had called “The Visit” a thought-provoking comedy and said, “Dürrenmatt was labeled a melancholic writer in Germany, and some renowned analysts believe him to have been an author who was able to portray anti-human events without fear. When I was studying his works, I also found out that Dürrenmatt was very strict and daring, and he was candid when narrating the truth.”
“One can hardly find the opportunities in life to apply all the hidden characteristics within oneself and this may happen only when forced by life. Dürrenmatt relentlessly depicted man perfectly in all possible situations and that is why some of his colleagues opposed his opinions and works,” noted Samandarian who first directed “The Visit” in 1972.
He also said, “During my studies, I figured out that Dürrenmatt portrayed the most expressive form of evolution of mankind in his plays ‘Play Strindberg’, ‘The Visit’, ‘The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi’ and ‘The Flat Tire’. In the eyes of Dürrenmatt, there was no absolute tragedy. Society commits crimes and no one feels guilty – therefore, there is no tragedy in its absolute meaning – what is left over is only tragic laughter aroused by feelings of anger and unhappiness.”
Samandarian had also translated several other of Dürrenmatt’s plays, including “An Autumn Evening” and “The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi”.
Dürrenmatt’s “The Judge and His Hangman”, “Suspicion” and “The Pledge” have also been translated into Persian by Mahmud Hosseinzad.
Source: Tehran Times