Persian performance of “Molly Sweeney” to be staged in Dubai

TEHRAN-The Persian performance of the play “Molly Sweeney” written by the Irish dramatist Brian Friel and directed by Iranian theater director Morteza Mirmontazami will be staged at the Zabeel Theater in Dubai, the UAE on January 28.

The 90-minute play, which has Saber Abar, Ali Sarabi, and Elham Korda in the cast, was previously performed at Vahdat Hall in Tehran last November, ILNA reported.

A two-act play, “Molly Sweeney” tells the story of its title character, Molly, a woman blind since infancy who undergoes an operation to try to restore her sight. The play tells Molly’s story through monologues by three characters: Molly, her husband Frank, and her surgeon, Mr. Rice.

This play is about Molly Sweeney who constructed for herself an independent life rich in friendships and sensual fulfillment, and her ill-fated encounter with two men who destroy it and cause her madness: Frank, the man she marries who becomes convinced that she can only be complete when her vision is restored, and Mr. Rice, a once-renowned eye surgeon who uses Molly to restore his career.

Molly undergoes eye surgery at the insistence of her husband and steps into the world of the sighted. Initially, she is very excited, but after a while, she begins to suffer from an illness; her brain fails to process the visual information, and despite having perfect vision, she is completely blind.

After this event, Molly becomes deeply depressed and ill. Having lived for 40 years in the world of blindness, she is afraid of leaving that world. Once she recovers, she fully realizes that she has lost the beautiful world of blindness that was uniquely hers.

Brian Friel (1929-2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer, and founder of the Field Day Theater Company. He is considered one of the greatest English-language dramatists. 

He has been likened to an “Irish Chekhov” and described as “the universally accented voice of Ireland”. His plays have been compared favorably to those of contemporaries such as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter, and Tennessee Williams.

SS/SAB