There is diversity in Iranian dramatic arts : Armen Sarkissian on Fadjr Festival and his workshop
Iran Theater- The Armenian artist and lecturer of the educational workshops at the 42nd Fadjr International Theater Festival, talks about the numerous performances of Iranian artists in Armenian festivals and, his familiarity with the dramatic arts of Iran.
The educational workshops of the 42nd Fadjr International Theater Festival are one of the most important side bars of this grand event, which is moderated by eight Iranian and foreign lecturers this year.
Educational workshops are being held with some prominent figures in the theater: Massoud Fortoon from Iran, Hayek Esrafilian from Armenia, Armen Sarkissian from Armenia, Thanassis Sarantos from Greece, Saeed Zehni, Bahram Ebrahimi, Farhad Mohandespour and Mehrdad Rayani- Makhsos from Iran.
Armenian theater director and teacher; Armen Sarkissian expresses his satisfaction with his trip to Iran after the first session of the his acting training workshop "Comparison of Grotowski's and Chekhov's acting methods" which was held on the morning of Monday, January 22 at the City Theater of Tehran. "I am happy that I organized this training workshop with a number of students and acting enthusiasts. When I decided to hold a workshop at Fadjr Festival, I decided to choose a topic that would be attractive to theater lovers. So I think one of the best topics about acting was to compare the acting methods of Grotevwski and Chekhov.”, Armen Sarkissian says.
He explains about the main subjects raised in this workshop as well as its main topic: "The most important difference between Jerzy Grotowski 's technique and Chekhov's acting methods is that in Grotowski 's method, actions and functions are done with the actor’s body, and The Chekhov's acting technique, it seeks to ground emotion through physical gesture. In fact, in this workshop, we tried to identify this difference and also the various functions that these methods create in the performance of an actor, and to experience it with each other."
The artist said about the interaction with the young students in this workshop: "holding this workshop was a good and very interesting experience for me. At the beginning, when we started the work, the students had no knowledge of my method as an Armenian director, so it took a while for them to find themselves and understand what the work and my method is like, but after a while, All of them participated and the work went well. Most of the participants were willing to talk and work with me after the end of the workshop."
This theater teacher talks about his familiarity with the conditions of theater in Iran: "Because there is a variety of performing arts in Iran, it is not possible to make a brief correct statement, but fortunately, several plays by Iranian directors have been performed in Armenian theater festivals in recent years, which are always appreciated and I have enjoyed them."
Armen Sarkissian held his second training workshop on Jan, 23 in the City Theater of Tehran.
