TEHRAN-The play “The Walls” written by Argentinean writer Griselda Gambaro and directed by Siavash Mohandesi is on stage at Shahrzad Theater Complex in Tehran.

Mohandesi also acts along with Amir Vaezi and Taha Shadfar in the 1963 play, which is a chilling prediction of the violence, disappearances, and state torture that haunted Argentina during the Dirty War military dictatorship, which lasted from 1976 to 1983.

It is about a young man who is detained in a room where nothing is what it seems and is slowly stripped of his belongings, perceptions, and sense of self. His captors tell him they're worried he might be Ruperto de Hentzau — the name of a villain in a novel. Until they can verify that he isn't, he can't leave this room. The main character — known only as the Young Man — hears distant screams in other parts of the house. But his captors promise him there's no reason to be alarmed. After all, this isn't a prison.

Gambaro, now 95, is one of the most influential Latin American writers of her generation. Her novels, plays, short stories, story tales, essays, and novels for teenagers often concern the political violence in her home country that would develop into the Dirty War. One recurring theme is the desaparecidos and the attempts to recover their bodies and memorialize them.

“The Walls” will be performed until January 3 at Shahrzad Theater Complex located at No. 74, Neauphle-le-Château St., Hafez St.

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