English Black Comedy at Niavaran Center

TEHRAN –(Iranart) artin McDonagh’s black comedy ‘The Lonesome West’ will go on stage from June 28 at Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran.

‘Lonesome West,’ the third and final part of ‘The Leenane Trilogy’ written by contemporary English playwright, screenwriter and film director of Irish descent Martin McDonagh, 47, will be staged by Iranian theater actor and director Ali Pilevar.

The 105-minute play will run through August 4 on all days, except Saturdays and Tuesdays, starting at 8 pm, Mehr News Agency reported.

The Leenane Trilogy is set in the rural area of Leenane, also spelled Leenaun in Ireland.

It is a series of flamboyantly gruesome dark comedies, starting with ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ (1996), followed by ‘A Skull in Connemara’ (1997) and ending with ‘The Lonesome West’ (1997).

All the plays are with murders apiece, exploring a brutal, utterly unromantic small-town portrayal of Ireland derived from McDonagh’s own complicated relationship with his British and Irish cultural identity, said a review on Limelight (limelightmagazine.com), an Australian art magazine.

The first play portrays ancient, manipulative Mag and her daughter Maureen whose mutual loathing may be more durable than any love. In the second, Mick Dowd is hired to dig up the bones of his late wife in the town churchyard; and in the last, the brothers of The Lonesome West have no sooner buried their father after a supposedly accidental fatal shooting, than they are resuming the vicious and trivial quarrel that has been the chief focus of their lives.

This searing trilogy recaptures the violence, humor and darkness of the Ireland of McDonagh’s childhood. They are for an audience who can appreciate pungent comedy and clever dialogue.

The Lonesome West ran on Broadway in 1999 and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play in 1999.

Pilevar is cast in the play along with Mehdi Gatmiri, Armin Eftekharzadeh and Fatemeh Miri.

Gousheh Hall of Niavaran Cultural Center is the venue for the stage. The cultural complex is located at the northern end of Pasdaran Street, across Niavaran Park. Tickets are available at the website of Tiwall (tiwall.com).