A cast of children and young adults directed by Mitra Karimkhani gave three performances, the last of which was held on Friday. Karimkhani has written the musical based on Persian poet Attar’s masterpiece “The Conference of the Birds”.

The musical composed by Maryam Sharifzadeh tells the story of the perilous journey of the world’s birds to the faraway peaks of Mount Qaf in search of their mysterious king, Simorgh.

“The troupe did their best to attract the theatergoers’ attention to environmental issues and the natural heritage of our country by the musical performed by a group of children and young adults,” the organizers said in a press release published on Sunday.    

“In a world in which people, especially children and adolescents, are facing the hard times that have followed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘The Conference of the Birds’ is a metaphor for the hardship people must endure for self-examination to achieve piety,” they added.

“The children and young adults, just like the birds in the story, must pass the hard days amid the pandemic to make a better world,” the organizers noted.   

“In addition to its literary and artistic values, the performance intends to remind children about their social responsibility for the environment, and raise their knowledge of nature; a generation which is expected to make the future of our country, a generation which has not heard the songs of birds in their cities and are far from their legends, poems and nature. All members of the cast, one by one, have traveled along with the birds of the story and want to tell you about their mysterious journey,” they stated. 

The troupe has previously performed musical adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling” and Darian Sanders’ “The Lion King”.

They also plan to stage musical adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” and the story of Ishmael (AS) and his father Abraham (AS) in the near future.

 

Source:Tehran Times