Prehistoric Iranian golden masks excavated from Kalmakareh in Lorestan Province

Dramatic performance has existed in Iran throughout history, although some Iranian and Western scholars say differently. Drama in Iran is generally thought to be of recent date and of European origin. It is further believed that the development of formal theatrical institutions is of an even more recent date.

Although Western-style drama was indeed introduced in Iran in the nineteenth century, this did not mean that indigenous dramatic art did not exist in Iran prior to the nineteenth century; it was, however, not necessarily of the kind that Westerners identify as theater, as much of Iran’s dramatic art took the form of folk theater. 

Many people may not necessarily recognize these early art forms as theatrical performance, because most people in the twenty-first century have been divorced from their ancient cultural roots and have no or little inkling that dramatic performances usually were not staged in a theater. It also depends, of course, how you define drama. 

Therefore I state upfront what I mean by the term ‘drama’ when I use it in this study. Drama is the writing, acting, or producing of a portrayal of life characters or the telling of a story, usually involving conflicts and emotions exhibited through action and dialogue. In short, it is an art form, usually in dialogue, that centers on the actions of characters. Taking this as my starting point means that drama is not necessarily only a written text that is performed by actors in a building often specifically built for that purpose. The definition explicitly includes minstrels, mimes, dancers, story-tellers, in fact anyone acting out the action of characters in song, spoken words, or gesture.

Iran is unique in that within its borders the only form of Islamic religious drama (ta`ziyeh) came into being. What is characteristic for traditional Iranian drama is that with the exception of religious and narrative drama written texts were seldom used. Dramatic art in Iran was strong on improvisation emphasizing the limited role that written text played. The difference between high and low culture was a rather artificial one; all traditional forms of Iranian dramatic art were expressions of popular culture. Those artists who were attached to the royal court and sponsored by the rich were just better and more competent than their less fortunate colleagues, who performed for the public at large.

Theater was initially of a ritual nature, a dramatization of man’s relationship with nature, the gods, and other human beings. Theater was born out of sacred rites performed by priests and lay actors dramatizing myths and legends at fixed times and often in fixed locations. As such the dialogues of the Avesta (ca. 1000 BCE) may be considered as a source for. Folk theater—mime, puppetry, farce, juggling—also had a ritual context in that it was performed at religious and/or social high days such as days of naming, circumcisions, and marriages. Often these plays were seasonal due to the agricultural calendar that made peasants ‘available’ as an audience and as actors only at certain times of the year. Over time some of these contextual ritual enactments became divorced from their religious meaning and they were performed throughout the year. However, until this day many of these dramatized rites are still performed at the times and for the (watered-down) purposes for which they originally had come into being.