Presentational Elements in Passion Plays

List presentational elements of the Iranian Taziyeh. Why does this performance format rely so heavily on non-realistic techniques?

Iranian passion plays’ primary purpose is rooted in the Islamic faith. The play is meant to honor the death of Imam Hussein and his family, and is an emotional and spiritual experience for both the audience and the performers. Because the purpose of the performance is religious and not simply for entertainment, the performances do not need to be realistic in order to be effective in their purposes. The plays include many symbolic and presentational elements to convey the story. The actors dress in elaborate costumes with symbolic colors that indicate to the audience the type of character each actor portrays. Props are also symbolic. A chair used to symbolize a hill, for example, is unrealistic; however, the realism of the actual performance is not important in Taziyeh. So little emphasis is placed on realism that the performers often break character in order to wave to a family member in the crowd and even hold their scripts in hand while performing. Actors typically maintain a great distance between themselves and the characters they portray in the plays, and it does not affect the audience’s experience at the performance. Since the performance depicts a religious story that the audience and performers know well, the performance does not require realistic performance techniques or convincing acting. The performance is about the experience of witnessing the familiar religious story, not just about entertainment for the audience. Although I cannot think of any parallels in our culture off hand, this seems to be the case for any kind of reenactment performance. The purpose is for the audience to feel the emotional connection to the events portrayed rather than entertainment. 

- Jenna Barclay