The Sahne-ye Abi Theatre (Blue Stage) in Tehran will present the comedic play 'Dinner for Fools' by Francis Weber from October 15 to 24. Kurosh Heidari directed the 70-minute performance. The cast includes Ahura Ghanbari, Mahbod Mirzadeh, Mohsen Olisani, Rahele Heidari, Sajjad Abedi, Shabnam Shahrasbi, and Mahvash Rahmani.
The comedy was written in 1991 and invites audiences to learn about the unusual manners of Pierre Brosseau, a publisher from Paris, and his friends. These friends are collectors, and they collect 'fools.' Every Wednesday, a company of young aristocrats holds a dinner where participants must bring one 'fool.' The winner is the one whose 'fool' proves to be the most believable.
With the help of the 'fools' scout, Brosseau finds a gem—François Pinon, a Ministry of Finance employee whose passion is creating replicas of landmarks from matches. After Brosseau begins suffering from lower back pain, his wife, Christine, leaves shortly before Pinon arrives at their apartment. Initially, Brosseau wants Pinon to leave, but then becomes dependent on him due to his back problems and the need to resolve personal issues.
He asks Pinon to help with a series of phone calls to find his wife, but Pinon repeatedly makes mistakes, including revealing the existence of Brosseau's mistress, Marlene Cessur, to his wife, Christine. Brosseau also manages to reconcile with an old friend, Gustave Leblanc, from whom he stole Christine. Upon arriving at the apartment, Leblanc hesitates between helping Brosseau and laughing uncontrollably at his confusion.
Brosseau assumes that Christine went to Pascal Meneo, a notorious rake. Since Brosseau does not know how to find Meneo, Pinon tries to help by involving a friend—Lucien Cheval, a civil servant who has information about Meneo. Cheval arrives but turns out to be a tax inspector, which further upsets the wealthy Brosseau, who avoided paying taxes, forcing him to hastily hide most of his valuables. During the call to the rake Meneo, the tax auditor makes an unpleasant discovery about his own wife and leaves, threatening to audit Meneo and possibly Brosseau as well.
Ultimately, Pinon learns the truth about the evening Brosseau wanted to invite him to. He feels offended, but being always well-intentioned, he tries to compensate for all his mistakes by calling Brosseau's wife, who was in a car accident after leaving the apartment for the second time (the first time when Pinon sent her, believing she was indeed Brosseau's mistress). This time, he does not make a mistake in the conversation, emotionally and sincerely recounting his own divorce (which led to his hobby) and improvising almost perfect excuses on the spot.
Nevertheless, after convincing Christine to return home, Pinon makes one last mistake: he answers the phone when she calls Brosseau, despite having previously told her he was in a phone booth, thereby causing her to suspect that he is simply repeating phrases dictated to him by Brosseau (which was happening in previous conversations).
Francis Weber, aged 89, is a French film director, screenwriter, producer, and playwright. He has written and directed both French and American films. Nine French films in which he participated as a screenwriter or director or both have been remade into English-language Hollywood films. Some of his screenplays were originally theatrical productions. 'Dinner for Fools' was adapted by Weber in 1998 under the title 'Game of Dinner.' A Hollywood remake of the film titled 'Dinner for Fools' was made in 2010, starring Steven Kerr and Paul Rudd.
