Iran Feature: Free Speech (and Some Laughs) in the Theatre (Tehran Bureau)

"A Correspondent" writes for Tehran Bureau:

In Iran, where all major opposition newspapers have been closed, where a small public gathering can lead to arrest, there remain few avenues of free speech. Of those few, one of the most accessible is the theater.

During my summer in Tehran, I was invited to see a play, Jazeereh Eshgh (Love Island), written by Hamid Reza Sa'atchi. On the basis of its title, I anticipated a cheesy romance -- even more so when the lights went down and a voice rose up, reminiscent in tone of Michael Buffer, the "Let's get ready to rumble" guy. The protagonist, played by Mahmood Reza Esmaili, loudly asked the crowd to make some noise and I watched the audience of all ages cheer and clap on command. Despite the over-the-top start, I was pleasantly surprised to watch a refreshing play filled with social and political satire of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In one scene, a man stands with arms outstretched, as if reading a newspaper. A woman walks by and asks him what he's doing.

He replies, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm reading a newspaper."

"So why isn't there anything in your hands?"

"Well, they've all been closed, so I'm forced to read them like this!"

Another scene depicts a woman who asks the main character a question for which the answer is "Two." At first he holds out his index and middle finger, making what could be taken for a peace sign -- in Iran, however, that gesture is the V-for-victory sign, made popular last summer by the Green Movement. The man, realizing his faux pas, says, "You can't even show the number two like that any more!" He offers some comical alternatives, most memorably raising his thumbs, which in Iran means "Up yours."

The main character jokes about the "parasite" or static emitted by the Iranian government that jams popular satellite TV channels such as BBC Persian, VOA, and Farsi 1. He mocks the new hejab culture created by the ingenious way Iranian women sexily wear their head scarves -- hair poofed up at the top and tucked behind their ears -- accompanying a meticulously drawn-on face. He even cracks jokes about Ahmadinejad.

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