TEHRAN-The play “Electra” written and directed by Mostafa Nasiri was performed at the 3rd International Theater Festival Abish Alemi, which was held in Aktau, Kazakhstan, from September 27 to 30.

The only representative of Iran at the festival, the play was performed on stage on Sunday by a troupe from Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran Theater website reported.

After the performance, which was warmly received by Iranians living in Kazakhstan, festival participants, spectators from Aktau, and representatives of the Iranian consulate in Aktau, the jury expressed their pleasure at Iran's participation in the festival and their appreciation for the opportunity to learn about its ancient culture.

Tarokh Ardeshiri, Jalal Shahbaznejad, Setareh Farsa, Donya Rahimian, Bahar Kolahi, and Masoud Hokmabadi performed in the play.

Electra is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies. She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, “Electra” by Sophocles and “Electra” by Euripides although they vary the theme in detail. She is also the central figure in plays by Aeschylus, Alfieri, Voltaire, Hofmannsthal, and Eugene O'Neill. She is a vengeful soul in “The Libation Bearers,” the second play of Aeschylus' “Oresteia” trilogy. She plans out an attack with her brother to kill their mother, Clytemnestra.

The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, Electra saved the life of her young brother Orestes by sending him away when their father was murdered. When he later returned, she helped him to slay their mother and their mother’s lover, Aegisthus. 

Speaking about his play, Nasiri said: “The script was written during the COVID-19 pandemic, inspired by a research process on the Electra legend and the various adaptations made over time by figures such as Sophocles, Euripides, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others”.

“All these adaptations were examined in terms of their form, and based on their differences, I wrote the play over the course of a year,” he continued.

Nasiri also highlighted his passion for writing and performing works based on myths, stating, “Electra’s revenge on her mother for the murder of her father is a central theme of the play, which reflects on the disintegration of the concept of family in our contemporary world”.

“Through the narrative, the audiences encounter stereotypical definitions of the family. However, eventually they arrive at a harsh and raw understanding of the concept in modern society,” he added. 

“The family of Electra has been judged for centuries, but no final verdict has been reached,” the director elaborated. I also tried to present a somewhat personal and critical perspective on the myth in this work, but it is not meant to impose a specific mindset on the audience”.

This year’s festival featured works from Kazakhstan, the Republic of Tatarstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Mongolia, and Iran.

This edition of the Abish Alemi Festival was held to mark the 85th birth anniversary of well-known Kazakh writer, translator, and politician Abish Kekilbayev (1939-2015). He was also a popular philologist and public figure, and people's hero of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

During the Soviet period, Kekilbayev worked as literary writer in which his work became a noticeable phenomenon in the literary life of Kazakhstan. 

Throughout his life Kekilbayev was recognized with several awards and titles such as Hero of Labor, National Writer of Kazakhstan, laureate of the State Prize.

He was also an academician of the Academy of Social Sciences, Emeritus Professor of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, and of the L. Gumilyov Eurasian State University.

SS/SAB