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RAFFI'S "THE FOOL"
http://www.ramgavar.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id
THURSDAY, 19 APRIL 2012 00:00
Odette Bazil, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
I joined the Ararat Theatrical Club in Tehran when I was 12 years old
and for the following 6 years, I participated in the plays which were
produced in the Armenian Language to address and satisfy the Cultural
and National interest of the Armenian population in Iran. The plays
- always containing a historic and patriotic message - were aiming
mainly to preserve the Armenian Language, Traditions and Culture.
One day, it was decided that the Club would produce - as a play -
the book "The Fool" written by the famous Armenian author Raffi:
a tragedy happening in 1915, during the Armenian genocide in Western
Armenia where Vartan (the man who loses his mind and becomes Raffi's
"The Fool") lives happily with his young daughter Lala and the rest
of his family.
Raffi (Hakob Melik Hakobian)
As part of the Armenian genocide planned by the Turkish government
of the day, and by order of the Turkish governor of the district,
the Turks rampage Vartan's village, kidnap his daughter, eventually
kill her and kill also his entire family. In the final scene, Vartan
returns and laments at his daughter's grave sobbing with shrieking
screams and crazy loud laughter, totally and desperately overwhelmed
by the pain which turns him into the "Fool" described by the author.
I was - originally - playing the role of Lala, but often, I had to
become also Stepanik, Vartan's imaginary son- for which role my face
would be covered with dust and coal, my clothes tattered, I would be
wearing a short and dirty wig, and would walk barefooted on stage,
looking haggard like an orphan. Being only 12, I could not understand
the reasons for that transformation and dual identity and when I
insisted to know, I was told that Lala's identity as a little girl
had to be hidden and, during the day, she had to become a little boy
so that "the Turks would not take her away"
The argument convinced me and I did ask no more ... until two years
ago, in 2010, when watching a programme on Armenian TV, I heard
the historian who was analysing the Armenian genocide, revealing a
story so horrid, so repellent and detestable that I had to switch off
the TV, struggling to hold back my tears and trying to overcome my
aversion and my anger. In a flash of memory, the play "The Fool" came
to my mind! And after so many long years, at last, I understood what
Mr. Vahan Aghamalian, the director of the play had meant by saying:
"the Turks would not take her away"!!!!!!
The historian was saying: "For the Turks, taking away the little
Armenian girls from their families was not a crime committed at random
by one or two individuals: the Ottoman government had created a law
by which the governor of every city and village had the right to take
his young sons to Armenian households where they would choose and take
away many little Armenian girls- even as young as eight years old-
to furnish their harems"
The presenter had tears in his eyes and pain in his voice while showing
the unbelievable document. But there, on the television screen, in
black and white, was the proof of the barbarism, the inhumane crimes
and the bestial violation of every human being's rights which were
legalised - with impunity - by Turkish law.
[khent_t.jpg] Which parent could tolerate such violation? Which father
could live with such degradation, shame and dishonour? Which mother
could ever have peace or joy in her heart and withstand such agony:
knowing of the crime committed against her daughter, day after day,
night after night?
No wonder that Vartan became "mad" with pain! No wonder that the
wounds created by such crimes -specially against their honour -
remain in the hearts of all Armenians forever and are buried so deep
that they will never forget or forgive.
Each one of us, Armenians, has in his or her ancestry a mother who
has lost a child in this horrific way, a relative whose entire family
has been butchered, a brother, a son or a father who has been hanged
or shot, friends who have been set to fire and hundreds of thousands
fellow Armenians whose properties, identities and lives have been
taken away by the Turks, cruelly and systematically, because they
were Armenians and because the Turkish government had a sinister
genocidal agenda and was wholeheartedly committed to execute that
satanic genocidal agenda.
We must remember those victims. Not only once every year on 24th April;
but everyday of our lives. Everyday. We must remember them. We must
tell our children, our friends, our neighbours, anyone and everyone
we meet, every day, about our people and their sad faith.
The world must know and we must remember. It is our sacred duty.
In Britain Remembrance Day is marked by the people wearing a red poppy
on their lapels. Maybe we Armenians - ALL OF US TOGETHER - should
adopt the wearing of a WHITE POPPY in Remembrance of the Victims of
the Armenian genocide. White: the colour of mourning. Six years ago,
at the 90th Anniversary of Remembrance, many of us in the UK wore
such White Poppies to which we also stuck a small label saying:
"Remember 24th April 1915".
Now, as time is of essence, there is the urgent - very urgent- need
for one of our Armenian composers to create a "Genocide Remembrance
Anthem"; a short, poignant and at the same time, strong and powerful
music, the notes of which can be sung without difficulty by everyone
and which can be easily and immediately recognised and adopted as such;
and by wearing the White Poppy by each and every Armenian during the
whole month of April of every year and by adopting the Remembrance
Anthem to inaugurate each and every event or function - even at Church,
after Mass, during Hogehankist - we can and must become the doers,
the presenters and the implementers of the forthcoming "Genocide
Remembrance Projects" and include them in the everyday actions and
lives of every Armenian National be it in the Diaspora or in our
Motherland .
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://www.ramgavar.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id
THURSDAY, 19 APRIL 2012 00:00
Odette Bazil, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
I joined the Ararat Theatrical Club in Tehran when I was 12 years old
and for the following 6 years, I participated in the plays which were
produced in the Armenian Language to address and satisfy the Cultural
and National interest of the Armenian population in Iran. The plays
- always containing a historic and patriotic message - were aiming
mainly to preserve the Armenian Language, Traditions and Culture.
One day, it was decided that the Club would produce - as a play -
the book "The Fool" written by the famous Armenian author Raffi:
a tragedy happening in 1915, during the Armenian genocide in Western
Armenia where Vartan (the man who loses his mind and becomes Raffi's
"The Fool") lives happily with his young daughter Lala and the rest
of his family.
Raffi (Hakob Melik Hakobian)
As part of the Armenian genocide planned by the Turkish government
of the day, and by order of the Turkish governor of the district,
the Turks rampage Vartan's village, kidnap his daughter, eventually
kill her and kill also his entire family. In the final scene, Vartan
returns and laments at his daughter's grave sobbing with shrieking
screams and crazy loud laughter, totally and desperately overwhelmed
by the pain which turns him into the "Fool" described by the author.
I was - originally - playing the role of Lala, but often, I had to
become also Stepanik, Vartan's imaginary son- for which role my face
would be covered with dust and coal, my clothes tattered, I would be
wearing a short and dirty wig, and would walk barefooted on stage,
looking haggard like an orphan. Being only 12, I could not understand
the reasons for that transformation and dual identity and when I
insisted to know, I was told that Lala's identity as a little girl
had to be hidden and, during the day, she had to become a little boy
so that "the Turks would not take her away"
The argument convinced me and I did ask no more ... until two years
ago, in 2010, when watching a programme on Armenian TV, I heard
the historian who was analysing the Armenian genocide, revealing a
story so horrid, so repellent and detestable that I had to switch off
the TV, struggling to hold back my tears and trying to overcome my
aversion and my anger. In a flash of memory, the play "The Fool" came
to my mind! And after so many long years, at last, I understood what
Mr. Vahan Aghamalian, the director of the play had meant by saying:
"the Turks would not take her away"!!!!!!
The historian was saying: "For the Turks, taking away the little
Armenian girls from their families was not a crime committed at random
by one or two individuals: the Ottoman government had created a law
by which the governor of every city and village had the right to take
his young sons to Armenian households where they would choose and take
away many little Armenian girls- even as young as eight years old-
to furnish their harems"
The presenter had tears in his eyes and pain in his voice while showing
the unbelievable document. But there, on the television screen, in
black and white, was the proof of the barbarism, the inhumane crimes
and the bestial violation of every human being's rights which were
legalised - with impunity - by Turkish law.
[khent_t.jpg] Which parent could tolerate such violation? Which father
could live with such degradation, shame and dishonour? Which mother
could ever have peace or joy in her heart and withstand such agony:
knowing of the crime committed against her daughter, day after day,
night after night?
No wonder that Vartan became "mad" with pain! No wonder that the
wounds created by such crimes -specially against their honour -
remain in the hearts of all Armenians forever and are buried so deep
that they will never forget or forgive.
Each one of us, Armenians, has in his or her ancestry a mother who
has lost a child in this horrific way, a relative whose entire family
has been butchered, a brother, a son or a father who has been hanged
or shot, friends who have been set to fire and hundreds of thousands
fellow Armenians whose properties, identities and lives have been
taken away by the Turks, cruelly and systematically, because they
were Armenians and because the Turkish government had a sinister
genocidal agenda and was wholeheartedly committed to execute that
satanic genocidal agenda.
We must remember those victims. Not only once every year on 24th April;
but everyday of our lives. Everyday. We must remember them. We must
tell our children, our friends, our neighbours, anyone and everyone
we meet, every day, about our people and their sad faith.
The world must know and we must remember. It is our sacred duty.
In Britain Remembrance Day is marked by the people wearing a red poppy
on their lapels. Maybe we Armenians - ALL OF US TOGETHER - should
adopt the wearing of a WHITE POPPY in Remembrance of the Victims of
the Armenian genocide. White: the colour of mourning. Six years ago,
at the 90th Anniversary of Remembrance, many of us in the UK wore
such White Poppies to which we also stuck a small label saying:
"Remember 24th April 1915".
Now, as time is of essence, there is the urgent - very urgent- need
for one of our Armenian composers to create a "Genocide Remembrance
Anthem"; a short, poignant and at the same time, strong and powerful
music, the notes of which can be sung without difficulty by everyone
and which can be easily and immediately recognised and adopted as such;
and by wearing the White Poppy by each and every Armenian during the
whole month of April of every year and by adopting the Remembrance
Anthem to inaugurate each and every event or function - even at Church,
after Mass, during Hogehankist - we can and must become the doers,
the presenters and the implementers of the forthcoming "Genocide
Remembrance Projects" and include them in the everyday actions and
lives of every Armenian National be it in the Diaspora or in our
Motherland .
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress