TEHRAN – Veteran director Pari Saberi plans to restage her “The Flying Shams”, the vibrant story of Rumi’s first encounter with his mentor Shams, in an open-air setting at Tehran’s Sadabad Cultural Historical Complex from August 4 and 7. 

Saberi, whose plays typically revolve around stories from classical Persian literature, premiered the play in Tehran in 1999. Afterwards, it went on stage for theatergoers in Italy and France. 

Her troupe also performed it at Vahdat Hall in Tehran in 2007. “The Flying Shams” also went on stage in Konya, Turkey in September 2010 during Rumi’s birthday celebration. 

Persian poet and mystic Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi had an encounter with dervish Shams-i Tabrizi in November 1244 while on a journey to Syria.

They forged a strong relationship under whose massive impact Rumi composed “The Divan of Shams”.

AFM/YAW