Reza Ghassemi, born in 1950 in Isfahan, wrote his first play ‘The Eclipse’ at the age of 18 and staged it the following year at Tehran University. He studied the repertoire of traditional Persian music and played the sitar. In 1973, he wrote and staged the play ‘Undated Letters to and from My Family’ with the company ‘Comedy Actors about Town’ which achieved great success which allowed him to take on the triple career of author, director and composer. In 1976, he won the prestigious national Iranian television prize for ‘When Zahak Governed the World’. In 1980, he wrote and staged ‘Punishment Cell’, then devoted three years to the music. In 1982, his play ‘The Sleep-Walkers’ was banned. In 1983, he wrote and directed the play Mahan e Koushiar. In 1986, he wrote and directed ‘Architect Mahyar’s Dilemma’. In 1986, he emigrated to France where he founded the group ‘Moshtaq’ with which he undertook a series of concerts and wrote several poems. He wrote ‘For You to Act Mercutio!” in 1991, the portrayal of which took place in 1993. His first novel ‘Night-Time Harmony’ appeared in 1995 and his last, ‘Babel’s Well’, in 1999. Here’s an intimate portrait by Hossein Setareh.
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