Under Supervision or Underground: The Spaces of Contemporary Iranian Theatre

Ali Mansouri*

Abstract

This article examines contemporary Iranian theatre spaces, focusing on tensions between official state-supervised venues and emerging underground performances. Just recently, following widespread socio-political protests in Iran and the movement of artists away from official spaces, repeated recourse to underground performances has transformed these productions from scattered events of the past into a full-grown movement grounded in the present. The continued existence of this movement is ensured not only by the ongoing political crisis but also by the deliberate choice of artists to experiment, to utilize performance spaces differently, and to resist the dominant norms of commercial theatre.

Keywords: underground theatre, official spaces, private theatre,assessment, experimentation

The Double Life of Iranian Theatre

In a dimly lit basement in central Tehran, a young woman begins to remove her clothing piece by piece. With an intimacy that connects the performance space to her seclusion in front of the mirror, she describes the terror she felt during her first experience of being caressed in a romantic relationship with a man. Pointing to parts of her naked body that she once despised, she explains how her self-loathing became a significant obstacle to her self-discovery. She then gracefully dresses, applies makeup and gets ready for a party. All of this occurs merely inches from spectators who, for over four decades, have been forbidden to see even female performers’ hair on official theatre stages.

*Khaterat va Kaboosha.* Written and directed by Ali Rafie. Photo: Rose Araghavan

Although Iranian audiences are gradually becoming accustomed to performances in unofficial (underground) spaces that openly defy official assessments and violate both governmental boundaries and social norms, the role of supervision and assessment in the official theatrical domain remains robust.

Despite the emergence of alternative spaces, many artists still choose to navigate multiple stages of assessment (and censorship) to perform on official theatre stages. Undoubtedly, the artists’ decision either to remain within the official theatre structure, accepting state supervision, or to embrace unofficial spaces and reject imposed censorship, has created a duality within the current Iranian theatrical environment. This duality has the potential, in the long run, to transform existing conditions in the country’s performing arts sphere and consequently alter the landscape of Iranian theatre.

Performances in alternative spaces are often interpreted as acts of resistance against governmental socio-cultural policies, particularly during the past three years following widespread protests in 2022, yet this paper argues that protest is not the sole motivation for artists’ rejection of official theatre spaces. Beyond censorship and imposed restrictions, especially those impacting women, artists’ experimentation and their eagerness to explore alternative and unconventional spaces, as well as the privatization policies and consequent emergence of a highly commercial theatre, have significantly influenced artists’ migration toward unofficial/underground performance venues. Consequently, what is today recognized as Iran’s underground theatre movement is likely to endure even in the face of the most profound changes to the country’s political structures.

*The History Boys* by Allen Bennett, directed by Ashkan Kheil Nejad. Photo: Mehrdad Motejali

Official Spaces and Supervision

Official theatre spaces in Iran primarily include state-funded venues, such as Tehran’s City Theatre, which are financially supported by the government and made available to theatre groups receiving funds from the Centre for Dramatic Arts. In addition, numerous private theatres established through private investments have joined Iran’s official theatre spaces over the past fifteen years, operating under licenses from the country’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. However, as will be discussed, the financial independence of these venues does not lead to reduced or lenient governmental assessment.

The current assessment procedures in the state-sanctioned theatre continue those established by the Cultural Revolution Council after the 1979 revolution. These policies require artists to submit to official assessments conducted by inspectors from the Centre for Dramatic Arts at various stages: once before rehearsals, to review and approve the script, and once after rehearsals, for assessing the performance itself. Additionally, performances may undergo anonymous assessments throughout their run to ensure adherence to prescribed modifications and compliance with political-cultural boundaries. This multi-stage assessment method is not new and has existed since the late 19th century when modern theatre was established in Iran (Āžand 484), with varying degrees of intensity and institutional responsibilities across periods.

Pre-performance supervisions oblige artists to alter or censor texts and make changes to performances, ranging from actors’ blocking to costume adjustments. If theatre groups deviate from set guidelines or refuse requested changes, unannounced assessments during performances by anonymous inspectors can lead to temporary suspension or permanent closure. Beyond governmental oversight, so-called Iranian religiosity and social norms rooted in a traditional and religious culture reinforce constraints faced by theatre artists (Moosavi 36). With these government-imposed and societal restrictions, creating theatrical works requires artists to strike a delicate balance between what they want to express and what they can present on stage. However, despite rigorous state supervision and expectations from the traditionalist part of society, official Iranian theatre spaces have not been entirely devoid of dissenting productions that challenge governmental ideologies and social norms.

*Comment* by Bahar Katoozi, directed by Yousef Bapiri. Photo: Mehdi Ashna

The persistent presence of censorship and assessment since the inception of modern theatre in Iran quickly compelled theatre practitioners to adopt various tactics for obscuring their messages, a technique with roots traceable to classical Persian literature.^[1] In recent decades, Iranian playwrights have effectively employed metaphors and allegories (e.g., works by Jalal Tehrani [b.1968] and Seyyed Mohammad Mosavat [b.1983]), rewritten myths and historical narratives (e.g., works by Naghmeh Samini [b.1973]), adapted classical literary works (e.g., works by Mohammad Charmshir [b.1960]), and superficially adhered to government-endorsed themes such as “value-based theatre” (e.g., Alireza Naderi [b.1961] and Hamid-Reza Azarang’s [b.1972] plays on the Iran-Iraq war),^[2] all strategically obscuring dissenting messages to evade censorship. Furthermore, theatre audiences have grown adept at decoding hidden messages within performances (Basiri 366). Despite these successful tactics, artists’ experimental tendencies and their efforts to discover new expressive forms and methods to evade censorship have extended beyond official spaces, leading many to step outside the confines defined by supervisory institutions.

Other Spaces and Spaces of Others

Restrictions imposed since the early 1980s drove many Iranian artists toward personal and alternative spaces, with some theatre practitioners taking refuge in the safety of their homes and apartments to stage performances privately and avoid governmental oversight (Karimi 55). However, due to the limited nature of these events and their confinement to artists’ personal spaces, these performances rarely attracted audiences beyond friends and acquaintances. Additionally, fear of possible repercussions from security forces and potential legal consequences prevented the frequent repetition of these performances, limiting their evolution into a sustainable theatrical movement.

From the early 1990s, prominent theatre practitioners marginalized after the 1979 revolution, such as Hamid Samandarian (1931-2012), Ali Rafiei (b.1938), Mahin Oskouei (1931-2006), and Mostafa Oskouei (1924-2005), began to train in their private institutes a new generation of theatre students who would later join Iran’s official theatre landscape. To complement their training, these students were allowed to stage performances within the institutes. These performances were not officially assessed, and their audiences consisted mainly of fellow students and family members, keeping them largely private.^[3]

Government support policies and relatively relaxed restrictions during the Reform Era (1997-2005) allowed for an increase in artistic events, cultural spaces, and the emergence of a new generation of theatre artists (Varzi 105). Young theatre groups in this period used their relative freedom to reconnect with pre-revolutionary avant-garde Iranian theatre and contemporary global theatre.^[4] Many from this new generation queued for performance slots at official theatres, some of which were located in Tehran, the central hub of cultural activities in Iran. Others turned to alternative spaces and experimentation in unconventional venues outside traditional theatre stages. Notable among them were artists such as Hamed Mohammad-Taheri (b.1975) and Ayat Najafi (b.1976), who utilized public spaces such as the engine room of Tehran City Theatre and a fire department parking lot, respectively, that both addressed their need for rehearsal and performance space and also facilitated experimental creativity. Although both artists left Iran shortly after their performances, their innovative use of unconventional spaces was continued by other artists, such as Hamid Pourazari (b.1968). Given the constraints imposed by limited official state-funded theatre spaces on rehearsal and performance duration, stepping outside conventional venues allowed these artists greater freedom in developing experimental ideas, even if most ultimately submitted to official supervision for public performances within the formal theatre framework.

*Sal-Sanieh* by Nashmineh Noruzi, directed by Hamid Pourazari. Photo: Alborz Teymoorzadeh

With the end of the Reform Era and the rise of a hardline conservative government (2005-2013), stricter restrictions were imposed on Iranian artists. Consequently, groups that had previously explored unconventional venues tested the possibility of using these spaces to circumvent governmental oversight, leading to an increase in unofficial performances held secretly. Pamela Karimi and Masoud Ardabili Najafi provide detailed accounts of artists such as Afshin Ghaffarian (b. 1986) and Babak Mohri (b. 1977), who performed in unconventional spaces without official authorization during this period. Despite these efforts, unofficial theatre, whether in private apartments or unconventional venues, remained limited and sporadic.

During this same period, the long-discussed privatization of theatre finally took effect, resulting in the establishment of private theatre halls. Although artists initially hoped that financial independence from government subsidies would grant them greater creative freedom, they quickly realized that the assessment procedures would remain unchanged (Ruzkhosh and Razeghi 79). Nevertheless, some artists and private theatre owners found opportunities to stage secret performances without being subjected to the official assessment process. These performances were relatively rare and attended only by trusted acquaintances, making them similar in nature to earlier apartment-based performances, with the main distinction being better-equipped venues.

Despite the significant increase in private theatre venues over the past fifteen years,^[5] government supervision practices have remained unchanged, providing no respite from instances of censorship and restrictions. However, their gradual emergence as the primary theatrical venues in Iran has transformed the nature of theatrical productions. The economic structure of private theatre, which holds artists directly responsible for financing their own shows and renting their own performance spaces, has compelled many theatre groups to adopt specific practices to avoid financial losses. These include refraining from staging plays that could potentially be banned, focusing on more commercially appealing scripts to attract larger audiences, and employing popular figures, from movie actors to social media influencers, to ensure ticket sales (ibid., 78). Thus, private theatre largely drove Iranian theatre towards commercialization.

*Lolita,* by Farshad Jafari, directed by Behnam Ahmadi. Photo: Zavosh Laghaie

These conditions impacted experimental and avant-garde artists most severely. Since private theater venues require performing groups to pay a minimum rent and a percentage of the potential profits from ticket sales, these artists who do not adhere to the rules of the highly commercialized theater face significant financial risks. Furthermore, with limited exceptions, such as the Qashqai Center for Performance Studies, which survived for one season only, state theatres rarely support experimental productions. However, this does not mean that Iranian experimental artists lack a platform from which to present their work.

The main locales for presenting alternative works over the past two decades have been events and festivals of two types: those held with the support of universities, such as the Tajrobeh festival, supported by the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran, and fringe events of official festivals in the country, such as the Digargooneh-haye-ejraeie or street theatre sections of the state-run Fajr Festival.

However, in recent years, various factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread popular protests, have led to interruptions in staging such events typically supported by the government. In November 2019, nationwide protests erupted across Iran, and were violently suppressed by the government. Theatre artists responded critically to this crackdown, yet a formal boycott of state-sponsored events like the Fajr Festival did not emerge until a catastrophic incident occurred two months later. On January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, carrying mainly Iranian passengers bound for Canada, was shot down by Iranian defense missiles; this incident was initially denied by the Iranian government but was later acknowledged as an “unintentional accident.” In response, many artists withdrew from the annual state-sponsored Fajr Theatre Festival that was held to commemorate the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution; their withdrawal resulted in the complete cancellation of the experimental performances section. This boycott of official venues and events by theatre artists initiated a broader movement now recognized as the Iranian underground theatre scene.

*We Came to Dance* by Nasim Ahmadpour and Ali Asghar Dashti. Photo: Bea Borgers

The Emergence of a Movement

Over the past few decades, some artists and audiences have used the term underground to refer to unofficial, unauthorized events, such as theatrical performances or concerts held in secret with no public advertisements or ticket sales, yet these events never achieved sufficient repetition or continuity to constitute a movement. Circumstances changed, however, with the widespread spontaneous street demonstrations of the Woman, Life, Freedommovement.

Woman, Life, Freedom protests erupted in September 2022, in response to the death of Mahsa Amini, a 21-year-old woman who died in the custody of morality police after being detained for her insufficient hijab. This massive public demonstration of solidarity and support not only resulted in a prolonged boycott of official theatre by artists and audiences, but also provided the conditions necessary for the emergence of the Iranian underground theatre movement. From the very first days of the protests, one of the primary demands was the end of mandatory hijab, as participants advocated for women’s right to choose their attire freely. Many theatre artists who had supported the protests from the outset announced a boycott of official theatre spaces that enforced mandatory hijab and strict dress codes for female performers (Mansouri). Consequently, artists rejecting official oversight began staging unauthorized performances in diverse venues, ranging from apartments to private theatres, cultural institutions and cafes. As noted above, some practitioners had already gained experience with unofficial (i.e., underground) performances by ignoring legal guidelines.

Previously, the motivation to experiment with unconventional subjects and forms drew only a limited number of artists to these underground spaces; however, the activists in the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement now shared an important goal with the larger community to protest against the compulsory hijab and governmental disciplinary actions directed toward women. This common purpose brought together a larger community of artists to participate in unofficial and unsupervised performances. Under such circumstances, many works performed underground during this period directly addressed the theme of protest against enforced regulations and their impacts. Some performances, like the example discussed at the beginning of this article, went as far as explicitly violating official regulations and societal norms. Nonetheless, underground theatre artists did not limit themselves exclusively to protest themes, and gradually discovered the broader creative potential offered by performance spaces free from governmental oversight.

Presence in performance spaces other than standard theatre stages allows artists to continue experimenting in unconventional locations and creating site-specific works. Moreover, in the absence of supervision, these artists have gained opportunities to experience the staging of banned texts, solo singing performances by women, and the possibility of closeness and physical contact between female and male performers. Consequently, theatre artists were able to use forms of blocking and movement design that were previously impossible, and they could also perform with optional attire of their own choosing.

Although police interventions against underground theatre artists have recently occurred, the widespread protests against compulsory hijab, as evidenced by numerous women openly rejecting government-imposed dress codes in public spaces across Iranian cities, has encouraged underground artists to persist. At the same time, public protests have shown regulatory institutions that further attempts to halt these performances are ultimately futile. This does not mean, however, that threats against underground artists have ceased: even now, as I write this article, one venue hosting unofficial performances has been closed down by judicial authorities because of a female singer’s solo performance, and its manager has spent some time in detention.^[6]

*Corridor*, written and directed by Pouya Keshavarz. Photo: Mohammad Jomezadeh

The New Life of Iranian Theatre

Despite all the risks facing artists involved in underground performances, unofficial productions continue being staged without undergoing conventional assessment processes. Indeed, many artists have decided to defy restrictions, such as the compulsory hijab, that conflict with their common sense, and are thus motivated to seek refuge in underground spaces. However, the attraction of experimenting in unconventional venues also provides a strong motivation, along with the desire to avoid financial constraints and circumvent compliance with the norms and rules of commercial theatre. Hence, many of these artists are encouraged to maintain their presence and remain active in unofficial spaces.

Although most unofficial performances take place in Tehran, diverse initiatives and events also occur throughout Iran, further promoting unconventional theatrical experiments in other parts of the country. Among these initiatives are various art residencies in cities like Kashan, Yazd, and Shiraz, which, by inviting artists and providing spaces for experimentation and performance, not only encourages the creation of works in unofficial and indeed unconventional settings, but also cultivates audiences for such experimental productions in other regions of Iran.

Furthermore, in recent years, certain private cultural institutes have collaborated with artists such as Hamid Pourazari and Mehdi Mashhour (b.1980), known for their work in unconventional spaces, and have organized a number of events and festivals. These events provide younger artists with opportunities to experiment with their performative ideas as they seek to transcend established boundaries of conventional theatre. Examples of such events include a series of lecture-performances by a group of young artists at the multifunctional institute Emarat-e Rooberoo, the series of Cut-Up festivals at the cultural institute Khooneh Kar-e- Degareh, the Rumi Theatre Festival held at Rumi Café, and the experimental theatre festival Mokhtass in Bandar Genaveh.

Despite the diversity of experiences represented in these events, one commonality among them is their significant distance from the demands imposed on artists by the unbridled commercialization of Iranian theatre over the past decade and a half. These events provide young artists with opportunities to stage their ideas at much lower financial cost and risk. The combination of factors such as resistance to surveillance and censorship, a desire for experimentation, and a conscious distancing from commercial and private theatre circuits has turned underground spaces into a strong alternative to official theatre, one that continues to grow and thrive alongside it.

The cultural atmosphere in present-day Iran has become more moderate and relaxed, due to the rise of a semi-reformist government beginning in June 2024. This shift has led many artists who boycotted theatre after the 2022 protests to return to official stages. However, the renewed vitality of the official theatre community is not based on the decline of unofficial underground spaces. In fact, many of the artists performing in these spaces either have no interest in engaging with official venues or see no contradiction in working simultaneously across both realms; clearly, what emerged over the past two years as Iran’s underground theatre movement continues to survive. Despite the many limitations and technical shortcomings associated with performing in unconventional or non-standard venues, the material and spiritual independence these spaces offer, along with the creative freedom enabled by the absence of regulatory institutions, encourages artists to continue working in unofficial settings.

Endnotes

^[1] Playwright Gholamhossein Saedi (1936-1985), prominent before the 1979 revolution, highlighted literary devices like allegory as strengths in Persian literature for circumventing censorship (Saedi 10).

^[2] Also known as “Sacred Defense Theatre.” See Moosavi 77.

^[3] This practice continues today in private art institutes that teach performing arts. Many of these institutes, in addition to organizing private, unsupervised performances for their students, also host private festivals in which frameworks and restrictions set by the Centre for Dramatic Arts are not necessarily observed.

^[4] See Varzi and Najafi Ardabili.

^[5] As of 2024, there were 22 private theatres in Tehran and 17 in other cities, according to ISNA.

^[6] To avoid creating problems for underground artists, direct references to artists’ names and venues are intentionally omitted in this article.

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*Ali Mansouri is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. His research focuses on political theatre, applied performance, and contemporary theatre practices in the Middle East, exploring intersections of art, culture, and socio-political activism. Mansouri has extensive experience conducting applied theatre workshops with refugee youth, and his scholarly and artistic work investigates theatre’s transformative potential in addressing issues of migration, censorship and social justice.