Popular Theatre in Iran: Critical Perspectives on The Historiography of Lalehzari Theatre

Abstract

By the mid-1950s a class of performers occupied the theatres, concert halls, and nightclubs of the Lalehzar entertainment district in Tehran. Many of these performers had abandoned their lives in small villages in faraway provinces. Many had come from poor neighborhoods in Tehran to pursue their dreams for theatre, dance, and music. Their diverse and varied performances known as “Lalehzari” (adjectival form) made deep and affective connections to the audience in the Lalehzar district. For the first time, a great population of Tehran’s spectators, who were often characterized as “uncultured” by various scholars, had finally found a body of performances that they could relate to, those that could speak to their struggles and sorrows, and that responded to political and social issues within their society.This dissertation considers the “Lalehzari” performances of the 1950s and 1960, the ways in which these performances originated in the 1940s, the ways in which they subverted the status quo, and the ways in which they have been described, theorized, and historicized in Iranian historical studies of theatre. Major theatre histories have been written with a Marxist lens by writers who had a relationship with the Tudeh communist party. As a result, such histories tend to emphasize, admire, and affirm so-called “committed theatre” and dismiss, denounce, and stigmatize Lalehzari popular theatre. Hence, there is a major gap in the available literature that represents Iranian modern cultural history as one-sided and political. This is not to deny that culture is always political but at a time when knowledge of Middle Eastern cultures in the US is limited to political discourse alone, an academic endeavor of the cultural history of Iran is crucial for understanding this multifaceted society. This dissertation addresses fundamental questions about how notions like immigration and class challenge the ways in which we think about culture and how cultural history may be written without erasures. To reconstruct the history of Lalehzari theatre, I am organizing my dissertation into these chapters: Lalehzar’s unique geographic location in Tehran and the history of its theatre houses (chapter 1), the improvisatory popular performers of the 1940s and how they gained access to Lalehzar (chapter 2), the stigmatization of Lalehzar (chapter 3), Racial depiction in performances in the district (chapter 4). Each of these chapters has a historical part that explains the cause and effect of events, the continuation and changes of performance styles, and the operation of theatre houses. Each chapter also offers a close reading and analysis of a few artists whose lives and performances reflect the class tensions between the Lalehzar district and the outside theatre scene. I am looking at the ways in which history unfolded and also how it affects us today, therefore, the dissertation addresses the preservation quest for Lalehzar theatres (chapter 5) and how lasting narratives about Lalehzar shaped the Iranian culture today (conclusion).