Beckett play scoops awards at Iranian puppet festival

TEHRAN,Nov. 21(MNA) -- Afsaneh Ayyari’s performance of “Krapp’s Last Tape” collected awards at the 12th International Festival of Student Puppet Theater. The play won the Special Jury Award and the Best Director Award in the Stage Puppet Show section during the closing ceremony of the festival which was held at the main hall of the Tehran Theater Complex on Saturday. Written by Samuel Beckett, the play is about Krapp’s 69th birthday and, as has become his custom, he hauls out his old tape recorder, reviews one of the earlier years and makes a new recording of the most recent year. The winners of different sections of the festival were announced during the ceremony which was attended by the General Secretary of the International UNIMA, Jacques Trudeau and several Iranian officials and artists. The Best Stage Designer Award of the Stage Puppet Show Section was shared by Mohaddeseh Mahfuzinejad for “Papols” and Elham Abedi for “Grill”. In the Street Puppet Show section, the Best Director Award went to Narges Khak-kar for “A Night as Long as Yalda”. Best Director Award of the Children and Young Adults Play Section went to Fereshteh Shafiei for “A Painting from Girl Doll”. At the ceremony, the secretary of the festival Zeinab Lak read a note written by puppet theater veteran Behruz Qaribpur for the audience. In his note, he expressed his hope that the officials pay attention to puppeteers and puppet theater artists. The audience honored the memory of recently deceased puppet show director Javad Zolfaqari who died of liver cancer in April 2011. Veteran artists of Puppet Theater Iraj Mohammadi and Marzieh Borumand were also honored at the festival. “If an artist seeks a lasting artwork, she or he should disregard the financial aspect of the work and have persistence and seriousness,” he said. After that, Borumand went on stage saying that she is proud of producing puppet shows for three generations of children in Iran. The 12th International Festival of Student Puppet Theater runs from November 11 to 19 in Teheran’s hall.