by Mehrdad Rayani Makhsous
The following refrain is repeated throughout the performance:
"Sentence: Execution (death penalty), Say Your Last Words."
The play is the life-story of three prisoners in three episodes. Each of them narrates his life in one of the episodes with the help of the others.
The First Episode is about a young middle-class boy who is punished in school falsely accused of eating beetroots in class. As a consequence, his father throws him out of the house. Years later, he gets a bus and … is executed!
The Second Episode is about a young poor boy who falls in love with a girl. When he goes to her house as a suitor, he finds her alone. She serves him some tea, and … executed!
The Third Episode is about a rich boy whose parents attempt to keep him away from social turbulences. Therefore, they imprison him at home, but he is so eager to be with others and find answers to his questions. He leaves home and becomes familiar with two guys who make him stick political posters on city walls, and … executed!
Mehrdad Rayani Makhsous was born in Tehran in 1971. Makhsous is a director and playwright and received an MA in Artistic Directing and a B.A. in Dramatic Literature. Makhsous is a member of the academic staff of Azad University (Tehran), and a board member of the National Iranian Theatre Critics Association of Iran. Rayani's career in the field of drama initiated when he was a teenager; and up to now, he has written about 20 plays – 6 of which already published. Makhsous is also the Director of the 2nd MAH National Theatre Festival – the second greatest theatre festival in Iran and has written and/or directed some documentary series for television such as "The Quest", "The White Hut", "Human Being, Theatre, and Time" for television.
