TEHRAN – A troupe has brought Shel Silverstein’s lion “Lafcadio” to life at a Tehran theater about 60 years after its first publication.

Director Ahmad Teimuri’s troupe has been performing “Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back” at the Gusheh Hall of the Niavaran Cultural Center since November 29.

Sepideh Zeinali, Alireza Zokai and Puya Yazdanju are the members of the cast.

“You don’t have to shoot me”, the young lion in the play tells the hunter. “I will be your rug and I will lie in front of your fireplace and I won’t move a muscle and you can sit on me and toast all the marshmallows you want. I love marshmallows.”

But the hunter will not listen to reason, so what is there for a young lion to do? 

After eating up the hunter, Lafcadio takes the gun home and practices and practices until he becomes the world’s greatest sharpshooter. 

Now dressed in starched collars and fancy suits, and enjoying all the marshmallows he wants, Lafcadio is pampered and admired wherever he goes. 

But is a famous, successful, and admired lion a happy lion? Or is he a lion at all? 

Told and drawn with wit and gusto, Shel Silverstein’s modern fable speaks not only to children but to us all!

Teimuri’s troupe has previously performed in several other theaters in Tehran.

Photo: Members of director Ahmad Teimuri’s troupe perform “Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back” at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center. (Theater.ir)

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