TEHRAN – “Reconsider Your Image of Me”, a co-production between the English Theatre STET from The Hague, Netherlands and the Virgule Performance Arts Company from Iran, is currently on stage in Tehran’s City Theater Complex.

Iranian director Arvand Dashtaray, Dutch dramaturge Cecile Brommer and Iranian playwright Naghmeh Samini have worked in conjunction with the Dutch partner Marene van Holk on the production, which is a project by Eleonora Herder, a freelance director and dramaturge in Germany and Spain.

In a session attended by a number of actors and the director of the play at the complex, the troupe discussed the project, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Monday.

“We began this project in 2013. ‘Reconsider Your Image of Me’ is a five-year research project that questions the images that we have of the ‘other’, and challenges the current state and impact of theater and art in our global society,” Dashtaray said at the session.
    
“Both Iran and the West have a strong ‘image’ of the other. This image has been created by the media, the geo-political situation and the lack of knowledge. To unravel this misinformation we proposed to offer the stage to ‘regular’ stories from people who might not have the problems with each other prevalent in the political sphere.”

For her part Marene van Holk said that living with a person from another culture means entering a new world, and this play somehow tries to depict these types of couples.

Cecil Brommer said that the project aims to depict the image one has of a new country and a new culture.

Dutch actor Michael Bloos called it a great experience to have been working on this project with his wife.

Diba Khatami, Arusha Beigi and Azadeh Mirzai are among other Iranian actors of the play.

The play, which opened on Sunday, will be onstage for fifteen nights.

RM/YAW