Reza Shirmarz

Reza Shirmarz is a Greece-based Iranian published, and award-winning playwright, translator, researcher, theatre director and scholar who has written or translated more than forty books and has worked with theaters, drama schools, radio channels and journals in Iran and abroad.

Early life Reza Shirmarz was born in Khoy and raised in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. His father was a ground forces general with no interest in art and his mother an art lover. Shirmarz is bilingual, speaking Persian and Turkish. Shirmarz began to read Persian classic literature, especially Rumi, as a teenager. He was fascinated by modern short stories, particularly the works of the modern Iranian writer, Sadegh Hedayat. He began to read non-Persian literature intensively after a couple of years when he was 18 years old. Later, Shirmarz began to read more ancient and modern dramas. in Fajr International Theater Festival and Iran's National Playwriting Contest. According to the official Website of Fajr International Theater Festival, "at the 26th International Fajr Theater Festival, held after three years in which no selected works were announced, Reza Shirmarz's play Cinnamon Stars was recognized as one the three selected works in the playwriting category. He translated plays and books by Aristophanes (11 plays), Menanderus (1 play), Plautus (20 plays), Terentius (2 plays), George Bernard Shaw (7 plays), Edward Bond (1 play), Somerset Maugham (5 plays), Terence Rattigan (2 plays), Clifford Odets (2 plays), Iakovos Kambanellis (6 plays), John Mortimer (5 plays), Arthur Watkyns & J.A. Ferguson, Edward Albee, Marjorie Bolton, Jean Paul Sartre, Jean Anouilh, etc. He mostly specialized in theater and philosophy. His last book on Robert Wilson, an American theater director, was published in 2015 by Ghatreh publishing company in Tehran. One of his translations from Greek into Persian was Aristotle's Poetics which was published in 2018 in Tehran by the publishing company Ghoghnoos. Although some of his works were already published at the time of President Mohammad Khatami, they have been censored and banned by the Iranian official authorities since the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but he continued writing and translating drama and philosophy into Persian. More than six of his works, such as Cinnamon Stars, Crystal Vines, Deep Blue Sea, Yellow Snow Falls, etc. are forbidden to be published and distributed. One of his translations is The Big knife by Clifford Odets, which has been prohibited since 2008.

Migration Shirmarz moved to Greece in 2010 to carry out research on ancient Greek culture and civilization, learn Greek language while studying at the university of Athens and translate Greek theatrical and philosophical works into Persian directly from Greek. Six plays of Iakovos Kambanellis were the first series of theatrical works he translated directly from the Greek language into Persian.

Plays Reza Shirmarz started his career as a playwright with a series of realist dramas, including Cinnamon Stars (2007), Crystal Vines (2008), and The Lanterns Are Weeping (2014), a trilogy which is "characterized by their engagement with sociopolitical issues in Iran and were written over a period of nearly a decade," the three dramatic works also trace the development of recurring characters as they mature and change across the three play. Although the plays are primarily grounded in realism, their staging allows for interpretations that incorporate non-realist theatrical approaches. Each work reflects aspects of a different period in post-revolutionary Iran and addresses changes in the country's social and political environment. For example, The Lanterns Are Weeping, the final play in the trilogy, represents a shift toward antirealism in his writing. Its central premise involves a writer whose blood inexplicably turns green, an event that attracts media attention and causes turmoil among the writer and those around him. The surreal element functions within a broader political and psychological framework associated with the social unrest surrounding Iran's Green movement. His use of antirealism and symbolic elements continues in later plays, including Deep Blue Sea and The Corners of Death. These plays combine realism with allegory and symbolism, further developing the relationship between political themes and non-realistic theatrical techniques in his writing. Furthermore, Shirmarz is "recognized for his bold and politically charged works." Here are the list of some of Shirmarz's plays: Cinnamon Stars (celebrated play in Fajr International Theater Festival and National Playwriting Competition, published by Namayesh Publication Center, 2007). This play was given a reading in the City Theater of Tehran. The following year Shirmarz tried to direct it with a professional crew, but the performance was banned by authorities. Crystal Vines (play in Fajr International Theater Festival and published by Namayesh Publication Center, 2008). This play was read in National Theater as well, but banned at the time of performance as well in 2009. My Hands (published in Theater Magazine, 2009) Catastrophe by Beckett and Mistake by Havel were published together by Index in 1984. Muzzled was also published by Index in the 50th anniversary birthday of the Sage journal in January 2022. These three plays were produced as a part of Theatre of the Absurd Festival at the Chopin Theatre in Chicago in May 2025.

Books

Stage Speech: Practical Exercises, published by Ghatreh Publication Company, 1st edition in 2012 and 12th edition in 2020. I think through my eyes, on Robert Wilson’s Visual Theater, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2015. Comedy (forthcoming) The Philosophy of Theater, Ghoghnoos Publishing Company, Tehran, 1st edition in 2017 and 4th edition in 2022.

Translations The Bad-Tempered, Menander, Sooreh University Press, 2000. The complete plays of Aristophanes: Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, The Wasps, Peace, Lysistrata, The Birds, The Frogs, Thesmophoriazuse, Ecclesiazuse, and Plutus, in Seven volumes, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2015. The complete plays of Plautus: Amphitryon, The Comedy of Asses, The Pot of Gold, Two Bacchides, Casket, Curculio, Epidicus, Menaachi, Merchant, Braggart Soldier, Haunted House, The Girl From Persia, Carthaginians, Psudolous, The Rope, Stichus, Trinummus, Triculentus, Casina & The Captives, in three volumes, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2002. The Anatomy of Drama, Marjorie Boulton, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 1st edition in 2003 & 4th edition in 2013. Stage for Speech, by Evangeline Machlin, Ghatreh Publishing Company, First edition 2003 & 10th 2013. Seven One-act plays by George Bernard Shaw: How He Lied to Her Husband, The Glimpse of Reality, Augustus Does His Bit, Passion Poison & Petrifaction, The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, The Dark Lady of the Sonnets, Annajanska The Bolshevik Empress, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2007. Great Peace by Edward Bond, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2009. Golden boy, Clifford Odets, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2009. Essays on Aesthetics, by Jean-Paul Sartre, 1st edition in 2001 & 6th edition in 2005, Ahange Digar Publication, 2009. Evoking Shakespeare by Peter Brook, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2009. Orchestra & The Dye-Hard, two one-act plays by Jean Anhoui and Harold Brighouse, Ghatreh Publishing Company. 2009. The Boy Comes Home & The Londonderry air, two plays by A. A. Milne & Rachel Field, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. He & His Trousers & The Wrong Man & Woman by Iakovos Kambanellis, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. Sheppy by Somerset Maugham, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. Ancient Roman Comedies: Andria & Phormio by Terence, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. The Dock Brief & Women at War, two plays by John Mortimer and Edward Percy, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. Browning Version & Adventure Story by Terence Rattigan, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2010. Letter to Orestes & Thebes Sidestreets by Iakovos Kambanellis, Ghatreh Publishing Company, 2011. Somathorybics: The Governance of Bodies as Noise, The Journal of Somaesthetics, Vol 12, No. 1, 2026, pp. 25-40.

Collaborations Shirmarz translated two essays on African rituals and their theatrical aspects, which were published as parts of a book called Drama and Religion published in Fajr International Theater Festival by Iran's Performing arts center in 2007. He was active in various Iranian radio channels as writer, translator and narrator for more than a decade from 1999 to 2009 the year he left Iran for Greece. Shirmarz has adapted and translated more than 100 dramatic works to be performed in radio and has worked as a theater critic. Despite all his artistic efforts in Iranian mainstream theater and media, he and his colleagues were deprived of their activities at the time of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the fundamentalist Iranian president who was elected in year 2009.