TEHRAN – Theatergoers in Tehran watched on Thursday “Chehel Dokhtar Mountain” and “Coffin”, two Afghan stories competing in the 40th Fajr International Theater Festival.

Director Emadeddin Tajik (Rasuli) has co-written “Chehel Dokhtar Mountain” with Ahmad Atai and Amir-Hossein Alemi based on an epic story from the Uruzgan region in Afghanistan.

The story takes place almost a century ago when an army led by Abdur Rahman was sent by the central government, a mere puppet of Britain, to take the control of the Uruzgan region. Hundreds of people were brutally killed and abused by Abdur Rahman’s soldiers. 

A girl namely Shirin forms a small group of 47 Hazara girls to put up resistance to the invaders. They take shelter on the Shehpar Mountains. The army lays siege to the mountain to capture the group. To preserve their honor and dignity, the girls finally throw themselves down the mountain after a seven-day fight. The mountains were later renamed “Chehel Dokhtaran Mountains” (Forty-Girl Mountains).

Written and directed by Senator Hosseini, “Coffin” is composed of three episodes, the first of which is about an Afghan family that lives in Iran. A son of the family tries to convince the family to immigrate to Europe, however, the father disagrees with him, he says, “If we have any plan to leave Iran, I prefer to return our homeland.”

The second episode follows an Iranian boy and an Afghan girl who are secretly married. They plan to leave Iran before their families are informed about their marriage.

The characters of the stories join together in the third episode, which features the challenges they face in dealing with human smugglers.      

Tajik and Hosseini were both born into Afghan families living in Iran. Along with a number of members of their crews, they met Iran’s Dramatic Arts Center director Qader Ashena in his office on Saturday.

“I was really delighted by watching ‘Coffin’ and I’m amazed and pleased that the writer of this play is someone who has only read up to the third grade at secondary school and is a construction worker, and this makes our responsibility to him weightier,” Ashena said at the meeting.

“Afghanistan has suffered great pains over the past century and I told my colleagues that ‘Coffin’ teaches us political science; it’s the anti-imperialist play of the festival,” added Ashena who has a Ph.D. in political science.

“I promise to help the ‘Coffin’ crew to stage their play in a state theater to provide the opportunity for the group to show that the knowledgeable and well-established Afghan youths are men and women who have gone through difficult times and to present their high potential in artistic affairs,” he noted.

For his part, Tajik said, “We were born in Iran and therefore, we obviously deem this our country, though our parents and ancestors are from Afghanistan.”

“I never imagined that I could stage a play at one of the best theaters of Tehran. That I receive this opportunity is the outcome of the cultural affinity between the Iranian and Afghan people,” he added.

“Chehel Dokhtar Mountain” and “Coffin” have previously been performed at Mehregan Theater and Shahrzad Theater Complex in Tehran. 

Photo: “Chehel Dokhtar Mountain” by Emadeddin Tajik.

MMS/YAW