TEHRAN – Director Hadi Marzban plans to return to the stage with a political romance named “Dr. N. Likes His Wife More Than Mossadeq” over one year after staging playwright Akbar Radi’s “Slowly with Red Rose”, a public relations team announced on Tuesday.

The play is an adaptation of a novel by Iranian writer Shahram Rahimian. It is about Dr. Esfandiar N., an ardent supporter of Mohammad Mosaddeq, Iran’s former prime minister, who made great efforts to nationalize the oil industry in 1951 that were nullified by the CIA coup d’état against the national icon in August 1953.

After the coup, Esfandiar was detained after refusing a call from the SAVAK intelligence services to criticize Mosaddeq in an interview. SAVAK agents know about Esfandiar’s love of his wife, Malektaj, therefore they shift the focus on Malektaj to bring Esfandiar to his knees. Now, he is faced with the dilemma of choosing between his family and political commitments.     

The play will be performed at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall late February. Reza Kianian will star as Esfandiar in the play. He will also collaborate as a set designer on this project.

Photo: Stage director Hadi Marzban in an undated photo.

RM/MMS/YAW