TEHRAN – The Titovak Theater Troupe from Iran has performed its acclaimed production “Macbeth of Zar” at the International Theatre Festival Rainbow in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Written and directed by Ebrahim Poshtkuhi, the play was staged during the closing ceremony of the 24th edition of the prestigious festival on June 1.

In this play, Poshtkuhi blends Macbeth with Zar, a rite commonplace in southern Iran, in the musical comedy.

Zar is a legacy from slavery as it was performed by African slaves who were brought to southern Iran. They performed it on weekends in order to gain energy to enable them to bear the burden of bondage for the rest of the week. Over time, ordinary people also joined in their musical rite comprising ecstatic dance with dammam (tom-tom) playing.

Today, Zar is mostly performed by workers in a group named ahl-e hava, which is conducted by a leader called a babazari.

In this play, Scottish general Macbeth commits a crime to join an ahl-e hava to become a babazari.

It was previously staged in Iran under the title of “Hey Macbeth, Only the First Dog Knows Why It Is Barking”.

The troupe performed the play at the 41st Fajr International Theater Festival in Tehran in February. The play brought Poshtkuhi an honorable mention in the best play category. In addition, musician Behrang Abbasi won the award for best composer for his collaboration in this play.

“Macbeth of Zar” was invited to the Russian festival after that festival’s director saw it at the Fajr festival, Poshtkuhi told the Persian service of ISNA on Tuesday.

“Although the [St. Petersburg] festival is a non-competitive event, our play was awarded a trophy from the festival on the closing day,” he added.

“Many theater groups from America, Europe and Asia attended the festival and performances from Japan, Serbia, the U.S., Russia and many other countries were put on at the event. We missed many of the performances because of a delay in the issuance of visas to Russia,” he explained.

Poshtkuhi also praised the organizers for renting nearby billboards to post ads promoting the festival’s programs. 
 
The festival, which is organized by the St. Petersburg Bryantsev Theatre for Young Spectators, took place from May 24 to June 1.

Photo: A file photo shows the Titovak Theater Troupe performing “Macbeth of Zar” at Tehran’s City Theater Complex on April 27, 2023. (Ali-Asghar Khoshkar)

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