TEHRAN – The play “The Retreating World” written by Naomi Wallace will be staged in Sari, Mazandaran Province, next month.

The Black Box Hall of the Culture Department of Sari will host the 45-minute play from October 6 to 9.

Amir-Ali Shishegari has directed the play, which is translated by Parmida Sotoudeh, and Reza Kamal is the only actor.

“The Retreating World” is a poignant monologue reflecting on life before, during, and after the First Gulf War in Baghdad, Iraq. It is a meeting with an Iraqi man in his late twenties, named Ali, after the 1991 Gulf War.

Five thousand Iraqi children died because of an American blockade, he tells us in his monologue. And he wonders if that figure would become more real if he were to count for us.

Naomi Wallace, 66, is an American playwright, screenwriter, and poet from Kentucky. She is widely known for her plays and has received numerous distinguished awards for her work.

Wallace has taught English literature, poetry, and playwriting at Yale University, UCLA, Illinois State University, Merrimack College, American University of Cairo, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and other institutions.

She has been called "a dedicated advocate for justice and human rights in the US and abroad, and Palestinian rights in the Middle East," and her writing described as "muscular, devastating, and unwavering".

SS/