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The Lesson and Forgiveness
Organizing a year
by Soheil Parsa
This year I will work on two shows with Modern Times: ‘The Lesson’, by Eugène Ionesco, and a new creation called ‘Forgiveness’, which is in its second phase of development.
I’ve had a long history with ‘The Lesson’. I remember reading it for the first time in Farsi in Tehran back in the 70s, shortly before the Revolution. The next time would be in English, in preparation to direct Ionesco’s ‘The Chairs’ in 2001 in Toronto. When I stumbled upon the play again in 2010, I decided that I had to direct it.
I guess my fascination with the play is two-fold. To begin with, the concept of dictatorship in the ‘The Lesson’ is familiar to me. I experienced it first-hand in Iran, and my attempt to understand that experience is one of the reasons that I choose the type of material Modern Times does. Secondly, ‘The Lesson’ speaks to ideologies, which are present around the world. For Ionesco, it’s ideology of language: empty slogans that seem so beautiful at first, but which eventually kill; the Professor uses language as a weapon against the student. I have witnessed this in many venues, Canada as well: when the truth crumbles, language can be used to cajole, intimidate and pacify.
