unicellulars

The Single Cells
2002–2003

• Premiered at the 21st Fajr International Theatre Festival, Molavi Theatre (2002)
• Public Run at Molavi Theatre (2003)
• Performed at the Silk Road Theatre Festival, Germany (2003)
• Revived at the 21st Fajr International Theatre Festival, Sangelaj Theatre (2003)

Three plays—Around the World in Eighty Days, The Single Cells, and The Soup Spoon—are interwoven into a single theatrical composition. Each unfolds within its own parallel world. The temporal structures of the three episodes are intricately layered: one takes place fifteen years after another; the second unfolds eighty days after the first; while both occur during a single work shift in the third. Yet all three narratives ultimately pass before the audience within the span of ninety minutes. At the climax of the performance, the inhabitants of these separate worlds are briefly able to glimpse one another’s realities—instinctively, unconsciously, and only for a fleeting moment. The encounter remains elusive, suspended in ambiguity rather than explanation. Following eight months of rehearsal, a month-long public run, two appearances at the Fajr  International Theatre Festival, and an international performance in Germany, The Single Cells  firmly established Jalal Tehrani as one of the leading voices of a new generation of Iranian theatre.