TEHRAN – “The Bald Soprano”, Romanian-French writer Eugène Ionesco’s debut play, is being performed at Tehran’s Divar-e Chaharom Theater.

Ramin Abolfat’hi is directing the play based on a Persian translation by renowned filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui.

Marzieh Rasuli, Mehran Aslani, Hamidreza Aqai, Pegah Moshtaqi, Mona Hassanzadeh and Nanet Tume are members of the cast for the play.

Written in 1950, “The Bald Soprano” centers on the Smiths, a couple from London, and another couple, the Martins, who come over for a visit.

The two families chatter in meaningless banter, tell stories and relate nonsensical truisms and poems. They are joined later by the Smiths’ maid, Mary, and the local fire chief, who is also Mary’s lover.

When the Martins and the Smiths are alone, they begin to argue without resolution or sense. The play ends with the Martins reciting the same lines spoken by the Smiths at the opening.

“The Bald Soprano” is considered a modern classic and a seminal work in the Theatre of the Absurd. It holds the world record for the play that has been staged continuously in the same theater for the longest time.

The idea for the play came to Ionesco while he was trying to learn English with the Assimil method. Impressed by the contents of the dialogues, often very sober and strange, he decided to write an absurd play named “English without Toil”.

Other possible titles that were considered included “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs”, translated in French literally, and “Big Ben Follies”.

Its actual title was the result of an error in rehearsal by actor Henri-Jacques Huet: the fire chief’s monologue initially included a mention of “The Blonde Schoolteacher”, but Huet said “La Cantatrice Chauve”, and Ionesco, who was present, decided to re-use the phrase.

The play has been regarded by many Iranian troupes.

Rahmat Amini had planned to put on the play bilingually in Persian and French at Tehran’s Neauphle-le-Chateau Theater last autumn. However, the pandemic forced him to cancel the performances, which had been called off previously in 2020 for the same reason.

Photo: Members of director Ramin Abolfat’hi’s troupe perform “The Bald Soprano” at Tehran’s Divar-e Chaharom Theater.

MMS/YAW