The Islamic Drama

The Islamic Drama of Iran is known as Ta´ zyieh or Shabith. It is a drama enacting the suffering and death of Iman Hussein, grandson of the Prophet of Islam. In AD 680 he was massacred along with his family in the plain of Karbala near Baghdad by the soldiers of Yazid, the Caliph. This drama was described by the distinguished teatre director Peter Brook as a "very powerful form of theatre" when he firs sae a Ta´ziyeh performance in a Village in the north of Iran. many theatre critics, such as David Williams, claim that it was the Ta´ziyeh that inspired Brook´s imagination and led to experimental productions such as Orgahast and Conference of Birds.