To many, the issue is the classic one of censorship. But to others, it marks an effort by the Judiciary to muscle aside officials of the Ahmadi-nejad Administration who are viewed as insufficiently revolutionary.
Henrik Ibsen’s 1890 play was shut down last week after six performances and the performing theater company was “summoned” to the Prosecutor General’s Office because of the reported “vulgarity” of the stage show.
Simultaneously, Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi announced that a new department would be formed in his office focused on “culture and media.”
The House of Theatre and Association of Drama Actors reacted by issuing a statement saying, “This incident makes the [Culture Ministry] rules and regulations for shows redundant and indicates that forces beyond the [ministry’s] Supervision Council will be able to expand their interference and attacks against theater productions to destroy the vast cultural background built by Iranian dramatists.”
Judiciary Chairman Sadeq Larijani joined the fray by criticizing Ahmadi-nejad Administration officials for permitting the play to be performed in the first place since it “questions our religious values … [and] mocks our Islamic values.”
“It is not acceptable that in the capital of our Islamic country some signs of cultural obscenity are performed,” he said.
In response to comments about the role of cultural affairs and the new department announcement announced by Prosecutor Dolatabadi, Larijani said, “We expect our executive bodies not to neglect carrying out their commitments. Of course, if the executive bodies that are in charge of cultural issues fail to do so, the Judiciary will intervene to confront crime. This is the duty of Judiciary.”
Culture Minister Moham-mad Hossaini said most criticisms of the production were unfounded. The Iranian Students News Agency quoted Hossaini as saying if the artists had violated any regulations they would be reprimanded and there was no need to take the matter to the Judiciary.
The culture minister added: “We do not intend to support violations, but there has been some exaggeration about this play and that is why we have provided the prosecutor’s office with DVDs of the play so that they can review the whole play, because a few pictures are not the best foundation for judgment.”
“These pictures are from the opening night and naturally after that the organizers were told to make certain adjustments,” Hossaini said. “In some cases, they [critics] have exaggerated; for example, in one picture it appears that a man and a woman are beside each other while they are both actually women.”
Hossaini said it is in the nature of theater as a live form of art that violations can occur during performances, but he refused to accept that the Ministry of Culture had ignored any transgressions committed by the play’s producers.