TEHRAN – Yase Tamam, an Iranian puppetry group, will perform Garcia Lorca’s 1936 tragedy “The House of Bernarda Alba” at the 26th edition of the World Puppet Theatre Festival in the French city of Charleville-Mézières.

Four performances have been arranged for the play, the first of which will be on Friday, the organizers have announced.

Speaking to the Persian service of MNA on Tuesday, director Zahra Sabri said that her group has been kept in quarantine since their arrival in France for ten days, because some members have not received the COVID-19 vaccine yet.

She expressed her thanks to the organizers for their help to the group to obtain visas for France.

Roxana Bahram, Neda Hengami and Mehdi Shahpiri are the puppeteers of the group, while Mehrnush Balmeh works as an assistant director and costume designer.

Lighting engineer Ali Kouzehgar and puppet maker Fatemeh Abbasi also collaborated with Yase Tamam.

The play tells the story of a repressive and domineering widow who forces her five unmarried daughters to remain in mourning for their father, sequestered with her on the family estate, for eight years. Frustrated and angry, the women respond in their individual ways to their mother’s cruelty, and the play ends in violence.

Yase Tamam also performed “The Dust and the Crown” written by Iranian playwright Giti Safarzad at the World Puppet Theater Festival in Charleville-Mézières in 2019.

The troupe also was in France in March 2018 to stage their acclaimed play “Count to One” in three cities of the country, including Frouard.

“Count to One” was performed at several international events, including the 16th International Festival of Puppets and Animated Forms in Lisbon in 2016 and at the 30th International Theatrical Festival Valise in Lomza, Poland in 2017.

It brought Sabri the award for best director at the Polish festival.

Photo: This file photo shows Yase Tamam performing “The House of Bernarda Alba”.

MMS/YAW