Ta'zieh
Ta'zieh means comfort, condolence, or expression of grief. It comes from the roots aza which mean mourning. It commonly refers to passion plays about the Battle of Karbala and its prior and subsequent events. Sir Lewis Pelly began the preface of his book about Ta'ziyeh maintaining that "If the success of a drama is to be measured by the effects which it produces upon the people for whom it is composed, or upon the audiences before whom it is represented, no play has ever surpassed the tragedy known in the Mussulman world as that of Hasan and Husain." Years later Peter Chelkowski, professor of Iranian and Islamic studies at New York University, chose the same words for the beginning of his book Ta`ziyeh, Ritual and Drama in Iran.
Depending on the region, time, occasion, religion, etc. the word can signify different cultural meanings and practices:
- In Iranian cultural reference it is categorized as Condolence Theater or Passion Play inspired by a historical and religious event, the tragic death of Hussein, symbolizing epic spirit and resistance.
- In South Asia and in the Caribbean it refers specifically to the Miniature Mausoleums used in ritual processions held in the month of Muharram.
Today, we know of 250 ta'zieh pieces. They were collected by an Italian ambassador to Iran, Cherulli, and added to a collection that can be found in the Vatican Library. Ta'zieh play texts were translated from Persian into French, by Aleksander Chodźko, the Polish orientalist, into Ukrainian by Ahatanhel Krymsky, Ukrainian orientalist, and into German by Davud Monshizadeh, Iranian Orientalist. Various other scripts can be found scattered throughout Iran.
The origins
Ta'zieh as a kind of passion play is a kind of comprehensive indigenous form considered as being the national form of Iranian theatre which have pervasive influence in the Iranian works of drama and play. It originates from some famous mythologies and rites such as Mithraism, Sug-e-Siavush and Yadegar-e-Zariran or Memorial of Zarir. The ta'zieh tradition originated in Iran in the late 17th century. Mourning for Siavosh as reflected in literature is a manifestation of all the prominent characteristics of our Islamic Shabihkhani. "Some believe that Iman Hossein's tragedy as depicted in Taziah is the next recreation of the legend of Siavosh"There are two branches of Islam; the Sunni and the Shi'i. The Sunnis make up about 85-90% of Muslims, but the ta'zieh tradition is performed by Shia Muslims during the first month of the Muslim calendar, Muharram, one of the four sacred months of the Islam calendar. The ta'zieh is performed each year on the 10th day of Muharram, a historically significant day for the Shia Muslims because that was the day of Hussein's slaughter. Each year the same story is told, so the spectators know the story very well and know what to expect. However, this does not negatively affect audience levels.
A strong belief in the Muslim community was that nothing created by regular people could be better than the way Allah created it, so all other creation was deemed disrespectful. Because of this, there are not many accounts-visually or otherwise- of this religious tradition. During the tradition it was very important that all spectators knew the actors were not disrespecting Allah, so most often, the actors had their scripts on stage with them so it was clear that they were not trying to depict another person that Allah did not create. The ritual was eventually banned by the authorities in Iran because the ritual was being exploited for political advances. Ta'zieh is not performed regularly in Iran and has not been seen at all in certain provinces of the region since 1920. France was the first non-Muslim country that ta'zieh was performed in 1991. Since then, the tradition has been seen in non-Iranian cities like Avignon and Paris in France, Parma and Rome in Italy, and New York City.
In Iranian culture
In Iranian culture it refers to condolence theater and Naqqali which are traditional Persian theatrical genres in which the drama is conveyed wholly or predominantly through music and singing. It dates from before the Islamic era and the tragedy of Saiawush in Shahnameh is one of the best examples.While in the West the two major genres of drama have been comedy and tragedy, in Iran, ta'zieh seems to be the dominant genre. Considered as Iranian opera, ta'zieh resembles European opera in many respects.
Iranian cinema and Iranian symphonic music have been influenced by the long tradition of ta'zieh in Iran. Abbas Kiarostami, the noted film maker, held a series of three live ta'zieh plays in Rome in 2002. Kiarostami also made a documentary movie titled, "A Look to Ta'zieh" in which he explores the relationship of the audience to this theatrical form. Film director, Nasser Taghvaee also made a documentary on titled, "Tamrin e Akhar". In 2001, Parviz Jahed directed the documentary film Ta'zieh; Another Narration, exploring the mythological, religious, and ritual elements of Ta'zieh and its connection to Soug-e Siavash in the Shahnameh. The film features insights from prominent researchers and Ta'zieh experts such as Bahram Beyzai, Peter J. Chelkowski, Jaber Anasori, Laleh Taghian, and Abdul-Ali Khalili, a Ta'zieh director and performer. They discuss various aspects of this sacred ritual drama, including its dramatic structure and performance techniques. The analysis focuses on the Imam-Hossain and his brother Hazrat-e Abbas Ta'zieh, performed and filmed in rural northern Iran, particularly in Shavy-Laasht village in the Mazandaran province. The film was selected for the 44th Festival dei Popoli in Florence, Italy and the First Iranian Festival in Berkeley, CA, both in late 2003, and the third annual Tiburon International Film Festival in Tiburon, CA in early 2004.
Mohammad B. Ghaffari introduced renowned theatre directors Peter Brook and Jerzy Grotowski to ta'ziyeh during the Shiraz Arts Festival in Shiraz, Iran prior to the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79, where he produced and directed several dramas from the ta'ziyeh cycle. He subsequently produced ta'ziyeh performances at the Festival d'Avignon in France in 1992, and most notably at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City in 2002 featuring performers from traditional taziyeh troupes in Iran, to widespread critical praise. This production and its preparation was presented in a documentary film, The Troupe, directed by Rabeah Ghaffari.