TEHRAN-The play “Caligula” written by Albert Camus will go on stage at the City Theater in Tehran from March 27.

Mehrdad Mostafavi is the director of the play that has Negin Javid, Zahra Jalilvand, Ava Hakimi, Kamyar Daryakenari, Nima Dodangeh, Ali Rahimi, Mohamadreza Ranjbar, and Afshin Rahgozar in the cast among others, ILNA reported.

Published for the first time in 1944, “Caligula” was later the subject of numerous revisions. It is part of what Camus called the “Cycle of the Absurd,” together with the novel “The Stranger” (1942) and the essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942).

A number of critics have reported the piece to be existentialist, though Camus always denied belonging to this philosophy. Its plot revolves around the historical figure of Caligula, a Roman Emperor famed for his cruelty and seemingly insane behavior.

The play depicts Caligula, torn by the death of Drusilla, his sister. In Camus' version of events, Caligula eventually deliberately manipulates his own assassination. (Historically, Caligula's assassination took place in AD 41)

Albert Camus wrote of his piece, “Caligula, a seemingly kind prince, realizes upon the death of Drusilla that men die and they are not happy. Obsessed by the quest for the Absolute and poisoned by contempt and horror, he tries to exercise through murder and systematic perversion of all values, a freedom, which he discovers in the end is not truly freedom. He rejects friendship and love, simple human solidarity, good and evil. He takes the word of those around him, he forces them to logic, he levels all around him by force of his refusal and by the rage of destruction which drives his passion for life”.

“But if his truth is to rebel against fate, his faculty is to oppose and deny other men. One cannot destroy without destroying oneself. This is why Caligula depopulates the world around him and, true to his logic, makes arrangements to arm those who will eventually kill him. Caligula is the story of a superior suicide. It is the story of the most human and the most tragic of errors. Unfaithful to man, loyal to himself, Caligula consents to die for having understood that no one can save himself all alone and that one cannot be free in opposition to other men,” Camus continued.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His works include “The Stranger,” “The Plague,” “The Myth of Sisyphus,” “The Fall,” and “The Rebel”.

“Caligula” will remain on stage until April 29 at the City Theater, located at Daneshjoo Park, the junction of Valiasr and Enghelab streets.

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