Playwright Mahmud Ostand-Mohammad dies at 63

TEHRAN -- Veteran playwright, director, and actor Mahmud Ostand-Mohammad died after a three-year battle with liver cancer at Tehran’s Jam Hospital on Thursday morning. He was aged 63.

 

Medical treatment for Ostand-Mohammad had been impeded by the sharp rise in the price of medicines necessary for cancer that occurred in Iran as result of the global sanctions against Iran, his daughter Mana previously said to several Persian news agencies.

 

Ostand-Mohammad was famous for his talent in writing stories about the everyday lives of Iranians in the plays he composed, which were based upon the basic principles of modern Western theater.   

 

Born in Tehran, he began a career in theater as a teenage actor in plays directed Nosrat Rahmani, Abbas Javanmard and Shaban Nalbandian.

 

He then joined the Theater Atelier, a troupe which was led by Iranian prominent playwright Bijan Mofid, and shot to fame in “The City of Story”, Mofid’s puppetry in which he played the role of a donkey in 1968.

 

The breakup of the Theater Atelier in 1971 led Ostand-Mohammad to leave Tehran to establish a troupe named Paturak in Bandar Abbas.

 

However, he returned Tehran a year later struggling with the disappointing condition of theater in the southern Iranian city.

 

His return began a new season in his career. He wrote “Aa-Seid Kazem” based on a real-life story about a man who was accused of murder and isolated from society.

 

Highly acclaimed by critics and his colleagues, the play was staged by various directors, one whom was Mohammad Rahamnian who helmed a reading performance of it at the Iranian Artists Forum in February 2012.   

 

In 1985, he left Iran and spent 13 years in self-imposed exile in Canada. He returned home in 1998 with several plays including “McAdam’s Café”.

 

Afterwards, he also wrote “The Last Game” (1999), “The Theatric Divan” (2001) “House of Pain and Grief” (2003) and “Family Photograph” (2008).

 

He directed “Family Photograph” at Tehran’s Sangelaj Hall in 2008. 

 

Many Iranian writers, actors and directors have offered their condolences over the death of Ostand-Mohammad.

 

“He was one the main pillars of the Iranian playwriting over the past fifty years,” director Hassan Fat’hi told the Persian service of ISNA on Friday.

 

“He was one of the most influential figures in the Iranian theater,” actor Ali Nasirian said and added, “I saw him Canada trying to promote Iranian theater in the country.”

 

 

MMS/YAW

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