Review of the play Leili and Majnun by Pari Saberi

    The aim of this study is to criticize and analyze Leili va Majnun play. The focus is mainly laid upon the presentation of the necessary elements in a theatrical text and their representation in the play written by Pari Saberi. She has attempted to add some elements and characters into the story, or to alter the story in a way which is more agreeable with today’s individual and social life. Regarding this purpose, she has made the story and the characters seem as Iranians. The result demonstrates that she has been able to proceed according to the principles of play writing and by making some changes to the text, he has managed to veer the play out of monotonous state. The play has been made coherent, consistent and has been well organized, although the atmosphere and character development need more attention.

Key words: Play, Leili va Majnun, Pari Saberi, Nezami Ganjavi  
 
1.1. Introduction
Nezami is the writer of precious works of romantic literature. His collections, both in terms of content and structure, have special positions among romantic couplet-poems (Masnavis). By making use of the romantic atmosphere of his poetry, he pictures ideal lover characters. Peter Cheklovsky, the popular researcher about Iran and the outstanding researcher about Nezami believes that Nezami Ganjavi is a skillful playwright who was able to show the essence of real drama in Leili and Majnun (Khuzan, 1989: 18).
Many of Nezami's works such as Khosrow va Shirin, Leili va Majnun, etc. have many capabilities to be used in drama. This application has been made possible by the powerful talent of writers who studied the classical romantic stories in the form of poetry collections and transformed them into plays. One of these figures is Pari Saberi. She is one of the successful directors of drama in Iran. Despite the fact that the art of theatre has few audiences, her works always win the attention of lovers of theatre, and the theatres where her plays are performed are always filled with the audiences. So far, she has written and published considerable works.
1.2. Statement of the problem and research questions
Nezami Ganjavi's Leili va Majnun is one of the plays that Pari has prepared for performance by the use of the main work. In this work, she has tried to present a modern and contemporary version of this romantic work. This play generally shows that Saberi has been able to present a concise form of the work by correct polishing of the story and properly summarizing it; and by the use of elements such as dialogue, display of feelings through body language, and music, she has produced a different work. This article tries to answer these questions:

Has Pari Saberi’s work been influenced by Nezami’s Leili va Majnun?
To what extent has she been able to polish a modern play?

 1.3. Literature
Three movies have already been produced on the basis of Leili va Majnun with screenplays by Abdulhussein Sepanta, Ali Muhammad Nourbakhsh and Ibrahim Zamani Ashtiani none of which has become a hit. Perhaps, one reason of such weaknesses in Iran is that few surveys have mainly studied theoretical principles by the use of dramatic as well as cinematic research methodologies. Of course, there are various books, articles and sources about Nezami’s Leili va Majnun, but its dramatic aspects have received little attention. One of these works is a very short article titled ‘Leili va Majnun heritage of play and playwriting in verse in Iran by Muharram Ali Dodangeh published in the book Moon of Literature, No. 47. Most part of this article discusses play in its general terms and shortly discusses the play Leili va Majnun at the end. Another article titled ‘Comparative study of intertextuality between Leili va Majnun and Majnun va Leili’ by Marjan Sadat Arabzadeh, et al which has mainly studied narratological aspect of this work.
1.4. Conclusion

The topic of the play does not have major differences with Nezami’s work, but the differences are about dramatic scenes which Saberi has added to the story to dramatize it more.
Love is the main theme of the play and as Nezami emphasizes on it by bringing some poems about it, Saberi, too, follows this principle.
In the play, different aspects such as crisis, complication, climax, and denouement are observed, but due to the fact that the work is based on lyrical and romantic spirit, these aspects are not very much in the picture.
The play doesn’t have a complicated fictional plot because the emotional changes of the protagonist appear in a smooth and flat way.
Characters of the play Leili va Majnun do not have much difference with the original story. Just a few more characters are observed in the play. Selection of these characters has helped the audience understand the play better.
The minor characters have been mentioned in the play to the limits of their functions and in fact, one-dimensionality of minor personages and their presence only in the required scenes is one of the weak points of this play.
Using poems of other poets has helped to remove the work’s smoothness and has reduced the audience’s boredom to a great deal. Also, this variety of dialogue has been effective on the attractiveness of the play, progress of events and creation of better atmosphere and states in the play.
In the introductory explanations of the play, there is not much information provided for the audience about the setting and the author only introduces the characters. Therefore, strengthening the effect on the audience through feelings is reduced.
The element of time is not very much considered in the play and this has made it difficult to understand the events.
The existing atmospheres in the play Leili va Majnun are mostly sad and Saberi displays sad atmospheres with appropriate scene information.
Different meters of the poems have created a different music which brings the story out of monotony, of course, this has been adjusted to the story very well and has promoted it a lot. Also, the rhythm of the play has reflected emotional tensions of the story very well.
The existing acts in the play Leili va Majnun bring ordinary decoration to the mind, and what changes one scene to another one is only a short pause, climax of music and darkening of the scene; especially when the story has been repeated in the mind of the audience.