Yahoo Movies In ‘A Doll’s House,’ Arian Moayed Saw Iran
Late last fall, Arian Moayed was on a plane to Berlin to participate in a protest against the ongoing situation in Iran when he opened the script for an adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen-famed “A Doll’s House.” The play was written in 1879 and set in Norway, about a woman trapped in a controlling marriage. As long as he’d lived in New York working as an actor, Moayed had considered the classic to be off limits for him.
“To be honest, when I moved to the city in 2002, I was only cast as Iranian or Israeli. And so I was just like, ‘I’m never going to be in ‘A Doll’s House’ on Broadway,’” he says.
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Yet there he was on the plane reading Amy Herzog’s modern adaptation, and all he could see was Iran.
“I remember going to the protest and just walking the protest and seeing women there. And I was like, ‘This play fits what the world is happening in Iran,’” says Moayed, whose family immigrated from Iran to the Chicago area when he was six years old. “My entire Iranian family came a couple Saturdays ago. Thirty-six Iranians, all immigrants, all here, we’re all immigrants. I’m the youngest of everyone. And the entirety of the conversation was about Iran. They’re not even seeing it in the lens of a Western person. They only see Iran. They’re just seeing, ‘Oh, men dominating over women in Iran has been a thing that’s been happening for 44 years and now they’ve been caught.’ That’s what they see.”
Moayed portrays Torvald opposite Jessica Chastain in the production, which is currently running on Broadway, in what has been a widely critically acclaimed show. Cut down from its original two-plus hours, this version is one hour and 45 minutes, no intermission, no props, no set aside from a few wooden chairs, and no major costuming, aside from simple, modern navy and black clothes. It’s an intense, full-on journey that grips you in your seat from start to finish, and leaves Moayed and the rest of the cast spent by the end.
“I told my wife Krissy [Shields], ‘I’m done saying I’m exhausted.’ And she goes, ‘Thank you,’” Moayed says. “She’s like, ‘I don’t want to hear that you’re exhausted again.’”
Moayed has been acting professionally since moving to New York, but his main focus has been Waterwell, the nonprofit he cofounded 20 years ago that uses the arts and education to talk about social justice issues.
“And then all of a sudden ‘Succession’ happens,” Moayed says. He plays “hedge fund douche bag” Stewy Hosseini on the show, which returns for its final season on Sunday.
“As gross as this is going to sound, as an artist, I find that the writing is the key element to everything,” he says of the show. “Even in ‘A Doll’s House,’ I mean, the real star of our show is Amy. So that was the fun aspect of [‘Succession’]. And I’ve known Jeremy [Strong] for a long time, and so having scenes with Jeremy was fun, being old friends.”
“A Doll’s House” runs through June 10 and “Succession” will wrap up in late May. Beyond then, Moayed is “excited to see what’s out there,” but is taking the time to savor each night on stage.
“Just toe to toe with Jessica is really a dream. And as actor nerds, she and I are having a back-to-college [experience],” he says. “It feels like, ‘Oh, I want to try this.’ And she’s a phenom, so I’m just trying to enjoy those moments with her because it really is a special thing.”
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