Written by Mahdi Motevasseli First performance 1990 | Date premiered 1990 Genre Historical drama | |
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Characters The Christian Monk, Petros, Zajr, Mokhaffar, The commander, The soldier, the kids (1 to 5) Setting year 61 AH ( in AHt: 680 CE) in Levant | ||
Khorshid Karevan (Persian: خورشید کاروان) is an Iranian play written by Mahdi Motevasseli from Fadak Cultural Institute played on scene for 26 consecutive years in Iran. The play has also been on scene in countries other than Iran including UK, UAE and the Netherlands. The popular religious theater in 2015 attracted 23000 spectators attending the performance in Tehran in Milad tower. It has been estimated that more than a million spectators in total have seen the performance over the past 26 years. The theater goes on scene in Muharram and Safar in memory of Ashura and its aftermath every year in Tehran and other cities in Iran.
Contents
Hossein Mosafer Astaneh and Mahmoud Farhang has been the first and the second directors of the play respectively.
Cast
Anoushirvan Arjmand has been playing the role of the Christian Monk for 22 years until he died in 2014. Jalil Farjad replaced him in 2015. Keramat Roodsaz, Asadollah Babaii, Farhad BEsharati and Mahdi Amini are among the players for the last performance.
Synopsis
A Christian Monk with his junior student (Petros) discus the actual reference of the names "Ilia", "Shebr" and "Shobair" mentioned in the holly book in a remote, worn-out church outside Levant where the Caravan of Captives of Karbala along with Kufa army commander and soldiers reached the church. The soldiers discovers an ancient slate in the church that mentions the name of Hussein and damned his murderers and think that the Christian Monk and his student are connected to Hussein somehow and get ready to kill them. Hereafter the night at the church sees a lot of dramatic events and emotional episodes where the story of Ashura are being gradually told by the characters.
History of the play
The current form of play is inspired from the play named "Haiha't" written by Abu Basem Hayadaar.