4 - Takkiyeh Dowlat: The Qajar Theater State

Summary

Ta'ziyeh, the commemorative theatrical play that dramatically depicts the martyrdom of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632 CE) – Imam Hossein ibn ‘Ali (c. 626–80) – at Karbala in 680 CE during the first ten days of the Islamic month of Muharram, appeared as the most significant public display in nineteenth-century Qajar Iran (1786–1925). Under Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848–96), ta'ziyeh developed into elaborate theatrics of processional and stationary ceremonies, performed around a melodic eulogy and recitation of the Karbala event known as rowzeh-khwani, reaching its height in popularity with the construction of the royal theater, the Takkiyeh Dowlat, in 1868–69. Tied to the construction of city spaces such as boulevards and royal buildings, the Takkiyeh Dowlat represented a massive ceremonial site, the largest in the capital city, Tehran, where ta'ziyeh plays were organized and performed by actors with considerable elaborate preparation, performance sophistication and visual richness that underlined the splendor and dramatic effect of the plays.

Ta'ziyeh is a passion play of a sacred event, and yet it differs on many levels from the Christian commemorative rituals, with its roots in the medieval period, because its dramatic staging of mythical warfare between good and evil takes place in the course of a theatrical enactment of a military battlefield. In broad theocosmological terms, the tragic martyrdom of Imam Hossein on the tenth day of Muharram, known as the ‘Ashura’, identifies an event of metahistorical importance.