Poupee Theatre (Iran)

TEATRO NACIONAL D. MARIA II - Sala Estúdio

24 and 25 May at 9.30pm (Fri, Sat)

26 May at 4.30pm (Sun)

^{Portuguese Premiere}

_{TICKETS ONLINE}

_{Technique: Objects and video, live animation Language: Persian, with Portuguese subtitles For audiences over: +12 Running time: 45 min.}

_{Conference: Contemporary Puppet Theatre in Iran - 25 May at 3.30pm (Sat)}

Poetic reconstruction of lost memories…
After many years, a woman has returned to Iran to sell her parental home. She fled the country as a child during the war with Iraq. Returning to the home of her early youth, she cautiously attempts to reconstruct memories she thought she had lost. 
Marjan created Flight No. 745 inspired by her own experience and childhood memories during the war against Iraq.

Iranian Poupee Theatre has found a special way to represent the reconstruction. Using beautifully crafted scale models and tiny puppets filmed by the performers. This contemporary production is inspired by the centuries-old Persian tradition of Aruasak-baazi and 'aruasak-e posht-e parda or puppet and object theatre. 
Flight No. 745 brings the war-tinged memories of the protagonist to life in a poetical manner.

Marjan Poorgholamhossein, the director, performer and author, uses puppets, narration and real-time video to create a special time of memories. She calls her project Micro Theatre, a mixture of puppet theatre and video projection. The stories are shaped in the form of memories and monologues of her personal world, alternating between childhood and the present.

_Prizes
-Recipient of special festival award as "The Most Effective show", 16th Tehran-Mobarak International Puppet Festival (Tehran, Iran 2016);
-Recipient of special festival award as "The Most Creative show", 35th International Fadjr Theater Festival (Tehran, Iran, 2017).

^{"The show ends, but I wanted it to continue. The story touches me by its simplicity and perhaps because I belong to this generation of immigrants. The applause brings me back to the real world.
For me, the play is a poetic narrative against war. It does not reject the war with big slogans; lives from the moments of interpersonal relationships. It speaks of yearnings and the admiration of children's eyes, that should never experience war. The Innocence is so pure that I wish to dispel the brutality of war, even if it is always present."
-Mithra Zahedi, Theater der Dinge}

BIO
Marjan Poorgholamhossein has graduated from Tehran University with M.A in Puppetry, she started her work as a puppeteer in 2003 and had performed as a puppet manipulator in more than 25 puppet shows in several international puppet festivals and this is her third show as a director.
"Making stories is a kind of work that I like the most. I'm always writing and making stories, this time I decided to picture one of those stories on stage. Although this story has not really happened to me, it is a familiar one for me and all Iranian women." - Marjan Poorgholamhossein