TEHRAN – The all-female troupe Sacred Art plans to stage a play on tazieh, Iranian passion play, at the Sureh Hall of the Art Bureau in Tehran on Thursday. 

Maryam Shabani is the director of the play, which will be performed exclusively for an audience of women.

The play narrates a historical story from the Qajar era and depicts how the tradition of performing tazieh by women originated in the court of Naser al-Din Shah.

The paly will be on stage until August 23. 

The Iranian passion play tazieh was registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November 2010.

Tazieh represents religious events, historical and mythical stories and folk tales. Each performance has the four components of poetry, music, song and motion.

However, stories about the uprising of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions against the oppressive Umayyad dynasty in 680 CE are more highly regarded by tazieh troupes and audiences.

Performers are always male, and female roles are played by men, most of whom are amateurs who gain their living through other means but perform for spiritual rewards.

It is a kind of drama that depicts the event of Ashura and is performed in Mahur, Chargah, and Shur Baghdad radifs of Iranian music.

It is based on the Ashura culture and the brave war and martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS). It is a religious play dated back to 9th-century dynamites and Buyids. However, Tazieh performance began during the Safavid era (1501-1736) and flourished during the Qajar era.

ABU/