New Theatre Season Opens in Tehran With Three Major Works

Date: 06 October 2025 - 22:06

News ID: ۱۴۴۳۳۸

TEHRAN -- Tehran’s vibrant theater scene is making headlines this October with the return of the immersive concert-play Café of Love at Niavaran Cultural Center, the haunting one-woman show Incendies in the Heart at Hamoon Theater, and the evocative musical production Mikis Theodorakis at Azadi Tower.

After a two-year hiatus, Café of Love—a concert-play by writer-director Seyed Jalaleddin Dorri—returns to the Persian Gulf Hall at Niavaran Cultural Center beginning Thursday, aa

Originally staged in 2017 under the title Layla and Majnun, and reimagined in 2022 as Café of Love, the piece blends live music, theater, and poetry into a unique sensory experience. With over 18,000 audience members attending its last run, the new version promises a fresh musical direction and reworked vocal arrangements.

The cast includes Fardad Safakhoo, Samira Husseini, Sadaf Beheshti, and Amir Kourosh Arabi, with performances by actor-vocalists Hamidreza Torkashvand, Fayezeh Kamiab, Elham Karimi, and Mohsen Soleimani. Music is composed by Kian Darat, who also performs alongside a full ensemble including Youna Darat, Saba Samimi, and vocal trio Parand Darat, Hengameh Goodarzi, and Sara Ne’mati.

Incendies in the Heart (A Bomb in the Heart): A Stark One-Woman Drama at Hamoon

Opening in November 2025, Incendies in the Heart, adapted from the powerful play by acclaimed Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad, takes the stage at Hamoon Theater under the direction of Muhammadamin Sa’di.

Produced by Fatemeh Kohestani, the intimate production stars Faeqe Shalalvand in a demanding solo performance, portraying three distinct characters navigating the raw terrain of war, identity, and loss.

Part of an ongoing initiative to present contemporary world drama to Iranian audiences, the play is presented in a new Persian translation by Nazanin Mihan and is supported by a strong design team including:

Erfan Almasi (Production Manager, Stage Manager)

Behzad Bakhtiari (Sound & Music)

Amir Panahi-Far (Set Design)

Paria Almasi (Costume Design)

Solmaz Najafi (Makeup)

Majid Seyedat (Lighting)

Hamed Farahi (Graphics and Motion Design)

Maryam Rahmani (Photography)

Simultaneously, director Sa’di is set to premiere another production titled The Beach People at Tehran’s City Theater complex later this season.

Mikis Theodorakis: A Musical Portrait at Azadi Tower

Rounding out the month is Mikis Theodorakis: Unheard Melodies, a poetic concert-play celebrating the life and work of legendary Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, written and directed by Azadeh Shams.

Running October 7–9 with two daily performances at 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM, this multi-sensory production fuses narrative and music to explore the composer’s deep love, personal trials, political resistance, and enduring legacy.

Rather than using music as background, the production makes it central to the dramatic arc, using live performance and visual storytelling to reflect key emotional and historical moments in Theodorakis’s life.

As the program teases: “Mikis Theodorakis composes a piece for his beloved—and the world listens.”

Tickets are available through Tiwall.