LGBTQ Iran: Art, Activism and Therapy of Trans theatre in Iran | SOAS

Speaker: Saman Arastoo
Discussant: Bahar Azadi
Moderator: Roya Arab

This webinar took place on 12 May 2021 as part of the LGBTQ in Iran series. Further info: https://bit.ly/3eEFbb2

Keep up with SMEI events by email: https://bit.ly/3okAbtQ

Translation of section at the end of the webinar:

1:25:29 ‘Not even homosexuals, In the film ‘A Fantastic Woman’ when a trans woman plays the part, the story progresses in the best possible way and you journey alongside them.’

Roya ‘Why do you say this?’

Saman ‘It was a film from Chile’

Roya ‘What reasons do you have for saying this?’

Saman ‘Because she is introducing her own identity to us, she is not imitating this identity

1:26:15….in English

1:26:38 Roya ‘Is all of acting not that I die one day, laugh one day, dance one day. To be all these beings, is this not the work of art?’

Saman 1:26:52 ‘Yes, but this is a debate around identity, we are talking about identity... We are talking about gender, a film like ‘If walls could talk’ [2] we are confronted with homosexuals who are living life and we journey alongside them. The final episode Ellen [De Generes] plays with Sharon Stone, she is incredible in the scene and it’s an exceptional final episode. You see the real life of a homosexual, there is not the smallest bit of acting, no imitation and mannerisms, it is a normal okay life…When a non-homosexual plays they part they show the life as abnormal, we are introduced as unusual.

Roya: ‘So you believe that a gay person must play a gay part and a trans a trans’

Saman: ‘Exactly’

Roya: ‘So a question for you, imagine if I were a bisexual female and I want to play an ultra-straight female role , are you saying I cannot do this? or if I were a lesbian and I am to play a role of a straight married woman with three children.’

Saman: ‘You will find this very hard to perform.’

1:28:17…..in English

1:28:50 Saman ‘I would like to know Bahar’s thoughts on this’.

1:28:56…. Bahar responds in English

1:29:52-1:30:23 Roya ‘I must say when it comes to trans, I agree that trans should perform the parts of trans, when it comes to lesbians and gays I don’t agree with that because on the other side, for example you Saman, you are trans, tomorrow if you want to get a role of a man this should not stand in the way, for someone to say you can never be a soldier and you will never understand the identity and gender of this male soldier, its one of the reasons I am wary of this.

1:30:23………in English

1:30:52 Roya ‘One of the problems is when you tell a homosexual you can play a homosexual better, the flip side of the coin is that you are saying that a homosexual cannot play a heteronormative character well’

1:31:07 One thing I must say, because I believe in realist theatre and my work is in realist theatre, and realist cinema, and the films I make are realist, maybe I look with this bias for it to happen. A homosexual can play the part of a female homosexual and play the part of someone who is not homosexual, but she will find it very hard to pull this scene off, unless she practices a great deal. I can play the part of a male tramp only when I really go and sleep on the streets and inhale the smell of the dustbins, otherwise I cannot play the part’

Roya ‘What if a director says, well done you really learned well, smelled the streets and so forth, but you were not born a man’

Saman: ‘No I was not born a man, I was born trans’

Roya ‘But no one should be permitted to say this to you, you should be able to play the part of a trans, be a husband, have children, in film you must have the right’

Saman ‘I would have to practice a lot. I must practice a great deal. For me to play a sergeant major, I killed myself, I still kept thinking I was lacking something in my performance of a sergeant major. I am a trans man.’

1:33:00- 1:34:35…in English

Видео LGBTQ Iran: Art, Activism and Therapy of Trans theatre in Iran | SOAS канала SOAS University of London