Stage & Costume Design · 2017
The
Hothouse
Harold Pinter · Paliz Theater, Tehran · May 2017
Set & Costume Designer: Ghazal Mojtahedi
About Harold Pinter
British playwright and Nobel laureate (1930–2008), known for spare dialogue, loaded silences, and an atmosphere of menace. His work explores power, memory, and the violence lurking beneath ordinary speech. The word "Pinteresque" entered the dictionary to describe his distinctive style.
About the Play
Set in a sinister government institution where patients are numbered rather than named. Over one night, two events shatter the façade: a patient has died, and a patient has given birth. Written in 1958 but suppressed by Pinter for 22 years, it is a sharp satire of authoritarian institutions and the dehumanization of individuals by systems of power.
Design Approach
The set and costume design responded to the play's institutional coldness — functional on the surface, oppressive beneath. Costumes reinforced power hierarchy between staff and patients using subtle distinctions in fabric and fit. The challenge was translating Pinter's British institutional world for a Tehran audience.
Production Photography · Click to zoom
