TEHRAN — Before the curtain rises, the sound of ta’zieh fills the hall. The audience is placed in the atmosphere of Muharram before a single word is spoken — though the story that follows begins neither on a battlefield nor with any of the familiar retellings of Ashura.

“The Cherry Tree,” a puppet-and-live performance directed by Sharareh Tayyar, is running at the Mehr Theatre of Tehran’s Art Bureau. Taking an allegorical approach to freedom and resistance to oppression, it translates those themes into a visual and narrative language shaped for children and adolescents.

Birds, and a bully

The story centres on a beautiful tree that offers sanctuary to a community of birds. Their peace is broken by the arrival of a bullying woodpecker, whose presence spreads distress through the branches. Only when a nightingale arrives do the birds find the inspiration — and the unity — to stand together and defend their home.

The script draws on a story from Why? Why? Why? by Claire Jobert, the Tehran-based French writer and illustrator of children’s books, whose original text retells the life of Imam Hussein (AS) and the events of Ashura for young readers. The play follows the same instinct, using symbolic storytelling to carry moral and spiritual values to an audience that might struggle with the history told directly.

Born in a philosophy classroom

By the director’s own account, the production began not in a rehearsal room but in her teaching. Tayyar works in the field of philosophy for children, and says strengthening critical thinking in young audiences matters greatly to her; she tries to build every production around three kinds of thinking — creative, caring, and critical — and to be clear about which one a given show is reaching for.

That intention shapes the allegory. Alongside standing up to a bully, the play asks its audience to question, to think for themselves, and not simply to believe whatever they are told.

Now in its third consecutive year staged during Muharram, “The Cherry Tree” was remounted under commission from the Omid House of Theatre after a well-received earlier run at Talar-e Honar. It was written by Sharareh Tayyar and Mohammad Hossein Habibi, with puppets and set designed by Mohammad Reza Bahr-al-Olumi and puppetry by Fahimeh Baroutchi, Amir Hossein Ensafi, Sharareh Tayyar, and Amir Mohammad Ensafi. Ammar Tafti narrates, with voice acting by Paria Tayyar. Amir Hossein Ensafi composed the songs and music, Hassan Mahdavi created the animation, Mohammad Reza Shamloufard designed the lighting, and Zahra Nasrollah and Bahram Hedayat served as assistant directors.

The events behind the allegory

Ashura falls on the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and marks the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (S). In 680 CE, the Imam led a small group of family members and companions against the vast army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I on the plains of Karbala, in present-day Iraq.

The confrontation was not a contest for power but a moral stand against tyranny. Outnumbered and denied access to water for days, Imam Hussein and his companions held to their principles until their martyrdom.

The legacy of that stand has long since outgrown its time and place, enduring as a symbol of the struggle between truth and falsehood. For millions, Imam Hussein remains the Prince of Martyrs and a lasting figure of courage, sacrifice, and integrity; his refusal to pledge allegiance to a corrupt ruler, at the cost of his own life and those of his loved ones, continues to inspire movements for liberation and human rights. Ashura is commemorated each year through mourning rituals, processions, and reflection on the victory of the oppressed over the oppressor.

“The Cherry Tree” runs at the Mehr Theatre until 7 August, Wednesdays to Fridays at 18:30.

Reference: Tehran Times