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The Assault of Comedy on Tragedy
By Sami Salehi Sabet
sami@tehranavenue.com
November 2009
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The character of Romulus in Romulus the Great is in many ways similar to its playwright, {Friedrich Dürrenmatt}. Neither the writer nor his creation, Romulus, dismiss the importance of money and its place in our lives. They are both obsessed with justice, freedom and love. Both take nothing seriously and they know that there are no great event or occurrences in the world. To them, the world is comedy, and though they feel the pain of tragedy in this life, they will never bring themselves to admit it, because they have chosen to take things at face value. And the last similarity between the two is that they want to do something to save the world but they can't. romulus.808.11.jpg

Romulus, the last emperor of the Roman Empire steeped his dominion deliberately into destruction. During his 20-year rule, he spent most of his time raising hens, indifferent to domestic and foreign political imperatives that weighed heavy on the empire. He made fun of everything and insisted on avoiding heroic and noble deeds. He doesn't care about the loss of Roman war gains, cultural achievements, administrative efficacy and even attempts at his own suicide. Even the occupation of Rome by the Germans and his capture by the German Prince Odoacer is unimportant to him.

Romulus the Great is a carefully drafted play. It is filled with details and wonders. The capture of Romulus is not the end of the play, however, and Dürrenmatt continues the play by giving Odoacer an enlightened personality as well. He is not only unwilling to kill Romulus but gives himself up to the most just and wise king in the world. Still, at the end of the play, Dürrenmatt ruthlessly forces his heroes to accept the mandates of reality. To him, there are no innocent human beings. Both Odoacer and Romulus must pay for the death of human beings under the rule and they are bound to fail. The playwright ends his play by saying: Justice is not achievable in this world.

Romulus the Great, now in it final weeks at Tehran's City Theater, is directed by {Nader Borhani Marand}. {Siamak Safari} shines as Romulus. {Payam Dehkordi} is Odoacer. {Sohrab Salimi} is Achilles. It captures superbly the essence of Dürrenmatt's creation, which is a masterpiece of absurd and grotesque theater. Even the playwright's attempt to make comedy win over tragedy ends in tragedy and Dürrenmatt deals the same fate to himself that he does to his protagonists.

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Credit

Images by {Reza Musavi}. For more stills go to http://theater.ir/news.show/+26855



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