TEHRAN -- “The Iran-Iraq war is still going on in our minds and Iranians are still engulfed in the psychological consequences of the war,” stage director Hamidreza Azarang said during a play reciting session.

Playwright Hamidreza Azarang’s “Image on Parallel Lines” was recited during a session at the City Theater Complex on Sunday.
He believes the Iranian nation is still struggling with the impact of the 1980-1988 war.
He said that he had visited the southwestern Iranian cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr before he started writing the play because he wanted to depict the real life of the former war-torn cities.
Even today, these cities’ residents are deprived of some important services, he noted.
The play does not follow a linear progression of time and several characters will appear in different times, he added.
He claimed that he tried to simplify the complicated social events of that time in his play since he believes that a writer can provide deep insights with simple images and language.
The play tells the story of people who reside alongside the railroad line in the early 1980s.
Their only wish is to go on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad, but they can not afford the trip.
Although their wish is never fulfilled, it united them during the misery of war.