Dash Akol According to Marjan (Part 2)
Professor Bahram Beyzaie's new play, Dash Akol According to Marjan (Part 2), premiered in Berkeley, CA on August 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, and 10, 2025.
About the play
“Everyone in Shiraz knew that Dash Akol and Kaka Rostam hated each other’s guts.” This is the opening line of Dash Akol by Sadeq Hedayat. And is it a jest that Dash and Kaka both mean a brother?
“Dash Akol According to Marjan” is our performative interpretation of this very simple short story, on the occasion of the ninety third anniversary of its publication (first published in 1311/1932), and in anticipatory celebration of its centennial, in search of what he, per force, left unsaid.
Dash Akol enters a house wherein the man of the house, on his deathbed, in front of witnesses, appoints him the executor of his will and the protector of the future of his wife and children.
His story is this time seen through the eyes of Marjan, the daughter of the house, and what she has seen or heard, from afar or near; what is at once, mirror-like, the story of her own life and of this house, and also the story of the central character of this story, and this house, her mother Mahbanou. And it is the story of the belated recognition by Dash Akol that the enemy of all three is one and the same.
Visit the event page for a full list of actors and a recap of Part 1. Part of the Stanford Festival of Iranian Arts.
Photos by Mahgameh Parvaneh. Black and white photos below by Ako Salemi.
