TEHRAN -- At the closing ceremony of the International Festival of Ritual and Traditional Plays its secretary Mohammad Hossein Nasserbakht remarked that a great deal more needs to be done to adequately protect Iran’s dramatic heritage.

The program was held at the Niavaran Cultural Center on Friday.
Nasserbakht went on to say that although the holding of every additional performance and festival on traditional plays is a step in the right direction towards preserving this art, it must be realized that Iran’s dramatic heritage is endangered.
“I really hope that a research center specializing in traditional plays or a theater hall for their performance will be established before future editions of this event,” Nasserbakht said.
The gala’s finalé was dramatically opened by a group of men performing a traditional Iranian dance involving the use of sticks to strike up an image of combat. After that the Morshed (mentor) Mostafa Saeidi recited the epic poem ‘The Seven Adventures of Rustam’ from the Shahnameh.
Then Sadi Afshar came on stage, the veteran Iranian performer of Siah-Bazi, a type of folk play featuring a black faced harlequin who stirs the audience to laughter with amusing improvisations.
A Siah-Bazi performance carries the message that the stage is a sacred place where the actor is obliged to protect the traditions of the ritual, Afshar said.
Representatives of the Indian, South Korean, Bulgarian and Italian embassies were presented with trophies marking the participation of their artists in the fete.
Artists Rajabali Moeinian, Mahmud Ostad-Mohammad, Ahmad Allameh-Dahr and Hamidreza Ardalan were also honored during the event.
The festival was held from July 30 to August 7 at Tehran’s City Theater Complex and at the Sangelaj Hall.
Photo: A foreign winner holds his prize after receiving it from Iran’s Center for Dramatic Arts Director Hossein Parsaii (L) during the closing ceremony of the International Festival of Ritual and Traditional Plays at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center on July 7, 2009. (Mehr/Majid Asgaripur)