Behrouz Gharibpour's 1997 Les Misérables Tele-theatre | تله‌تئاتر بینوایان

Behrouz Gharibpour's 1997 Les Misérables tele-theatre | تله‌تئاتر بینوایان

Behrouz Gharibpour is well renowned in theatre (especially in traditional Persian puppeteering!), and he directed Bahman Cultural Center's 1997 production of Les Misérables. (Link to the recording of production at the bottom of this post)

Gharibpour had previously worked on a Farsi translation of Les Misérables in 2006.

The location of the 1997 play was important as the Bahman Cultural Center was in the capital’s less affluent southern district. To contrast, the theatre audiences would mainly comprise of the wealthy sector of society.

Around about ten years later, he directed and wrote a stage adaptation of 'Uncle Tom’s Cabin' in the same center.

“My aim in staging this play was not just to depict poverty— I also wanted to call attention to ignorance, because I believe ignorance to be more painful than poverty." [...] “The media censorship of blacks in the United States and the U.S. government’s behaviour towards racial minorities in housing and also the slowness in delivering relief after the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina indicate that discrimination still exists in the society. [Uncle Tom’s Cabin] raises many other important issues and questions. Our behaviour towards Afghan immigrants in Iran is an example of one of the main issues touched on in the drama."

Available at: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/163730/Ignorance-is-more-painful-than-poverty-in-Uncle-Tom-s-Cabin

By 2007, Gharibpur resigned as director of the Iranian Artists Forum "following criticism of certain performances staged at the venue which highlighted Iranian and foreign scholars and intellectuals."

"[...] About dealing with the ancient and traditional rituals of Iran; I must say that it is not the only issue of dealing with ancient and ritual roots. The main issue is reconciling the audience with the theater. Many people are still afraid of the theater and think that the theater belongs to a certain class, and this special class is intellectuals and book readers. I attracted a large number of audiences to the theater by performing the plays "Les Misérables" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin".Therefore, my concern has not changed since I entered the world of theater at the age of fourteen, and that was to attract the audience as much as possible."

Available at: https://theater.ir/en/165680

From these statements, we can see that there are political ties and messages conveyed from the stage adaptations of Les Misérables in Iran. In fact, in the later 2019 production, the same issues were raised about the wealth disparity and the irony of the theatrical performance of Les Misérables when it was only available for the wealthy.

It seems that, even after twenty odd years, similar sentiments are expressed by the public.

At the end of the day, Gharibpour fought to have his plays be more accessible to combat these struggles, of which he places responsibility in Iranian cultures on the relationship between class, wealth, and theatre.

He has additionally compared his translations and works to the current socio-political environment of Iran.

However, there had been criticisms to the above:

“Other social classes can attend other plays; you shouldn't expect the entire public to come and see this particular production. Of the 150,000 people who saw our work, are all of them wealthy, privileged, and without pain? I strongly disagree with the claim that we are producing this for only a specific group."

Available at: https://www.tebyan.net/news/458977/%D8%A8%DB%8C%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D9%82%DB%8C%D9%82%D9%87-%DB%B2%DB%B5-%D8%AC%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA

To watch the tele-theatre (I don't think all of the episodes are uploaded, but I haven't watched it yet so I don't know in confidence):