More Film Stars Seen in Theatrics

TEHRAN.(Iranart) – R ecently a number of cinema actors have for the first time appeared on theater stage. This has breathed a new life into the theater in Iran.

There are theater directors who claim the recent surge of audience in theater halls is due largely to the presence of film actors among performing troupes.

Whether or not the celebrities are the reason, theater is apparently gaining traction in the Iranian society, according to the mining and trade news website Smtnews.ir.

Mehdi Nasiri, a theater director believes there is no fundamental difference between acting in cinema and theater, but says there should be some yardstick  for letting filmdom slide into theater.

“Acting in short sequences and the possibility of repeating the shot several times gives the actors the opportunity of self correction. This is indeed not possible on the theater stage,” Nasiri said. “Migration of film actors to theater, more or less, harms the art because one small slip could totally ruin a play,” he added. “But drawing a line between cinema and theater is wrong,” he noted, naming celebrated actors and actresses such as Atila Pesyani, Mahtab Nasirpour, Elnaz Shakerdoust, Mahnaz Afshar, Afshin Hashemi, Sahar Qoreyshi, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Amir Jafari and Houtan Shakiba as among the talented examples active in both fields and who attract audiences in big numbers in the film world and theater.