C.A.P.S. Publications (Publisher)
2020 272 pages
Size: 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"
Language(s): English
Additional Artists
Karine Khodikyan (Author)
Hagop Baronian (Author)
Pavstos Buzand (Author)
Vahe Berberian (Author)
Saghatel Harootyunyan (Author)
This book is a collection, in English translation or adaptation, of four Armenian plays and the dramatization of a historic episode.
Baghdasar Akhpar by Hagop Baronian, the most popular play in the Armenian theatre repertoire, is a late 19th century marital comedy, with a strong satirical bent. Baghdasar has found out that his wife has a lover. In the traditional society they live in, there is no question that he should be able to divorce his wife and preserve the honor of his house. But times are changing, and yet, other things remain the same…
If Your Eyes Are Clear is a drama set in the 1970’s Soviet Armenia. Judge Mirbegian is in charge of a court case related to massive corruption in a state conglomerate. He is expected and urged to convict a lowly driver as the person responsible. The man has confessed anyway- in open court. But the judge is skeptical- to say the least. Pressure builds up on all sides, some openly, some quite insidiously…
In Vahé Berberian’s The Pink Elephant, a group of actors are rehearsing an ‘Absurd’ theatre piece, amid the dire ‘realities’ of the Lebanese Civil War. The play opens tomorrow, but irritating late-night arguments abound: Is theatre an educational tool, or an entertainment? Should an Armenian actress take off her shirt on stage? And the committee representative still says he would have preferred a comedy. “You do a worthy play, and you play to empty seats”.
In Kariné Khodikyan’s drama, Don’t Shoot, I’m Dead Already, a woman living alone, not only avoids any social contact, but is actively hostile towards all neighbors, particularly the low-life types upstairs, who seem to be having orgies- loud music and creaking beds- at least twice a week.
Arshak and Shapoor is a short, dramatized version of the story, told by the 5th century historian Pavstos Beauzand, of the demise of King Arshak II of Armenia, in the hands of the Sassanid king Shapoor II.