Street Theater: A Story of Social Harms and an Effort to Foster Hope

Tabriz – The play 'Kook Nakook', which tells the story of a father and daughter struggling with financial hardship, reflects social harms and shows the potential of street theater to foster hope and vitality in society.

Abbas Khalifalou, the director of the show "Kok Nakok" from Ahar city, in an interview with Mehr reporter, on the sidelines of the 7th National Street Theater Festival of Tabrizim, pointed to the capacity of theater in reflecting social issues and stated: in addition to entertaining the audience, art can depict part of the realities of people's lives and provide the context for society to pay more attention to problems and concerns that are sometimes less seen in everyday life.

Explaining the theme of the show "Kook Nakok", he added: This work, centered on social harms, narrates the life of a father and daughter who face various problems in order to survive. The father tries to provide for the family's livelihood and daily expenses, and the daughter has dreams that she wants to achieve in the midst of existing difficulties.

Khalifalou continued: The character of the girl in the show wishes to go to school, continue her education, and get away from the difficult conditions that have created livelihood problems for her. The confrontation between the limits of life and the wishes of this child forms an important part of the show's narrative.

The director of "Kook Nakok" stated that this show tries to familiarize the audience with a part of social realities and said: Theater has the possibility to show people social issues and harms through stories and concrete characters. When the audience connects with the lives and concerns of the characters of a show, there is a greater opportunity to understand their conditions and problems.

He emphasized: Addressing issues such as families' livelihood problems, limitations faced by children, and dreams that are affected by economic conditions, can reflect part of society's problems in an artistic form and draw the audience's attention to these realities.

street theater; An opportunity to strengthen social vitality

Referring to the difficult social conditions and the need to pay attention to people's spirit, Khalifalou said: In a situation where people are facing various worries and pressures, art can play a role in creating a cheerful atmosphere and strengthening the public spirit. Holding the Tabrizim Street Theater Festival is also an opportunity for the presence of artists among the people and providing them with the possibility of direct communication with the theatrical works.

Referring to the role of the cultural, social and sports organization of Tabriz municipality in organizing this event, he added: the continuation of cultural and artistic activities in difficult conditions is very important; Because the society in such situations also needs hope, vitality and opportunities to get away from everyday pressures.

Stating that street performances provide access to art for different groups of people, this theater director clarified: one of the characteristics of this type of show is that the artist performs in a public space and among people, and the audience can communicate with the plays without the need to attend specialized theater halls.

According to him, in addition to creating an opportunity to introduce works of art, this method of performance provides the opportunity to communicate more widely with the audience and can create moments different from the usual atmosphere of everyday life for people.

Khalifalu pointed out: street theater can create a suitable atmosphere for vitality and cultural communication in the society in addition to addressing social issues. The importance of these activities is that people get the opportunity to experience a cultural and artistic activity in addition to facing serious and real life issues.

Artists should not distance themselves from society in difficult times

The director of the "Kook Nakok" show emphasized the social responsibility of artists and said: Our duty is to continue working and producing works of art in hard and easy days. The artist should not distance himself from the society, but should know the conditions of the people, understand their concerns and continue his activities according to the needs of the society.

He added: The presence of artists alongside the people and efforts to strengthen social vitality is part of our responsibility towards the society. Art can play a more effective role when it is accessible to people and its themes are related to the real life and experiences of the audience.

Referring to the capacity of street shows to be present in public spaces, Khalifalu said: performing plays in urban environments will allow more groups of people to watch theater. This capacity can help the continuation of society's connection with art and provide the context for the presence of cultural activities in everyday life.

He continued: In difficult circumstances, people's relationship with cultural activities should not be weakened. By continuing to produce and perform their works, artists can create a space for hope, vitality and social interaction while reflecting society's issues.

Emphasizing that the artist's responsibility is not only limited to the production of the work, the artist stated: knowing the society and paying attention to the conditions of the people should also be taken into consideration in choosing the subject and the way of presenting the works. The closer the works of art are related to the lives and concerns of the audience, the more effective the possibility of communicating with them increases.

support for performing groups; A necessity for the continuation of performances

In another part of his speech, Khalifalou emphasized the need for the authorities to support artists and theater groups and said: supporting theater groups can provide the basis for producing more works and providing wider opportunities for performing street shows.

He added: "As much as the support for artists increases, theater groups will have more opportunities to plan, produce and perform their works." The continuation of these supports can help more presence of theater in public spaces and access of different groups of people to artistic activities.

Referring to the capacity of national festivals to introduce works and interaction between artists, this theater director said: Events like the Tabrizim Street Theater Festival provide an opportunity to present the works of different groups, get to know the experiences of other artists, and expand communication between activists in this field.

He pointed out: Continuation of such events, along with supporting theater groups, can help the continuation of artistic activities and provide a more effective presence of theater in people's social life.