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 The Botanist Monsieur Jordan
and
The Sorcerer-Dervish Mastali Shah
 The Botanist Monsieur Jordan
and
The Sorcerer-Dervish Mastali Shah
by
Mirza Fatali Akhundov

Translated from the original Azerbaijani language by Sanan Aliyev

and
Adapted by David Parry with an introductory essay
 NEPTUNE PRESS
49a Museum Street, London WC1A 1LY, England
[email protected]

Edition © Neptune Press 2010

Translation © Sanan Aliyev

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, without
permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN 0-9547063-7-4
 A c k n o wled g ement

I t is with the greatest pleasure I would like to thank all of those

who have helped in the production of this text including:
Gruntlers arts group; the European Azerbaijan Society; the
Caspian-Khazri Society; Atlantis Bookshop. Immense gratitude
is also due to a number of hard working individuals including;
David Parry for his diligent reading of the play, as well as
meticulously adapting each act for the British stage; Sabina
Rakcheyeva, Arts and Cultural advisor of TEAS; and lastly,
Simon Powley at Arts Educational School.

Sanan Aliyev London 2010

 C o ntents

About Author
page 9

Translator
page 11

Adaptor
page 11

Introductory Essay
page 13

Characters
page 17

Act One
page 19

Act Two
page 29

Act Three
page 39

Act Four
page 45

Endnotes
page 63

Original Performing Cast

page 64
 A b o ut A ut h o r

M irza Fatali Akhundov (1812-1878) was born in Nukha

(modern Shaki), Azerbaijan. He is celebrated to this day
as a playwright, author, philosopher and grammarian. Often
referred to as the “Moliere of the Orient”, Akhundov is principally
known for his European-inspired plays in the Azeri language.
Across the decades, critics have commented that he initiated
a new level of development in Azerbaijani literature, while
being considered one of the leading lights of modern Iranian
narrative. His first published work, The Oriental Poem (1837),
lamented the death of Alexander Pushkin. In 1859, Akhundov
published his short, but now famous novel The Deceived Stars,
laying the foundation of Azerbaijani Realist Prose. His popular
comedies established Historical Realism as the leading trend in
Azerbaijani stagecraft, The Botanist Monsieur Jordan and the
Sorcerer-Dervish Mastali Shah (1851), representing a superb
example of a cross-cultural comedy of errors.


 T ranslat o r

S anan Aliyev was born in Azerbaijan in 1986. After graduating

in Oriental Studies from Baku State University, he moved
to Britain in 2009 to continue his linguistic research. As a well-
known translator of Azeri poetry and drama into the English
language, he became co-founder of “Gruntlers”, an international
Arts group, giving regular performances of his own eclectic
work at the Poetry Café in Covent Garden, London. His life-
long love of drama led to the performance of M.F.Akhundov’s
famous play “The Botanist Monsieur Jordan and the Sorcerer
– Dervish Mastali Shah” on the British stage.

A dapt o r

D avid Parry was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1958. He

graduated in Religious Studies from Kings College KQC,
London, later continuing his theological research at Heythrop
College, London. By profession, he teaches Contemporary
English Literature, Language and Semantics. As an established
poet and practising Heathen, Parry has given readings and
lectures across London and the South of England since 1996. He
has published a number of reviews, experimental essays and
theological comment pieces, along with two critically acclaimed
prose-poetry collections, “Caliban’s Redemption” (Mandrake
2004), and “The Grammar of Witchcraft” (Mandrake 2009). He is
the founder of “Gruntlers” and this adaptation marks his debut
as a contributor to English theatre.

11
 I ntr o duct o ry essay

U ranus fathered the Titans. Perhaps that is why he appears

to disturb the planetary pundits of received astrological
theory. At times, they seem incapable of making up their minds
as to whether this is a baleful sphere or not, since he is the source
of weird as well as wonderful, creatures. Certainly, his celestial
presence in the skies seems to generate (for them), ominous
influences against the overly comfortable and cosy cultural
orthodoxy of ages past. Uranus’ very house appears to prize the
outlandish and the perfectible; they say. Beware of the colourful
ambiguities cast by his shadow; they also whisper. However,
the Holy Books tell us that wise men once followed a Star to find
a God. A truly sacred tale, which is by no means trivial in our
own time, even though we need to recapture the spirit of such
a symbolic pilgrimage in contemporary forms. It is, after all, a
journey in pursuit of personal freedom: a comedic marathon
racing towards poetry, politics, theatre and storytelling, on both
a Microcosmic, not to mention, Macrocosmic scale.

Dramatists, nevertheless, are not always the best people to

analyse their own theatrical temptations. They are either too
immersed in their own philosophical paradigm’s to be genuine
revolutionaries, or else busy sitting on a pseudo-objective
fence, whereby authentic spiritual insights become impossible.
Twin horns of an inherited dilemma which only partially
impaled Mirza Fatali Akhundov (1812-1878) the free-thinking
Azerbaijani Bard. Indeed, as a playwright who fathered the
fathers of modern Near Eastern literature, these perplexities
simply add substance to reviews surrounding the satirical
humour characteristic of his early work. A literary period when
his lyrical voice fought to find vivid, coherent, expression.
Moreover, they frame present-day critical opinion, wherein
some commentators claim Akhundov’s legacy has become a
unique spur in genuine intercultural dialogue. Noticeably, his
dramatic bequest is awash with caricatured depictions of inert
traditions, chauvinism and rampant religious bigotry, reflecting
the Playwrights firm grip on our common humanity. A stance,
unarguably, favoured by both poets and soldiers who uphold
13
 Presenting extraordinary incidents in four acts

C h aracters

Monsieur Jordana
Botanist, Parisian, 40 years old

Lord Hatamkhan
Ruler of the Takla-Muganli hamlet, Kharabagian, 65 years old

Lady Shahrabanu
His wife, 45 years old

Lady Sharafnisa
His elder daughter, 16 years old

Gulchohra
His youngest daughter, 9 years old

Mr. Shahbaz
His nephew, betrothed to his eldest daughter, 22 years old

Hanperi
Nanny of Lady Sharafnisa, 40 years old

Dervish Mastali Shah

Famous sorcerer, Iranian, 50 years old

Gulamali
Mastali Shah’s pupil, Iranian, 30 years old

17
ACT ONE

19
K arabakh (1848): It is early spring and the day after the Nowruz
holiday. The scene opens at a winter encampment in Takla-
Mughanli. Lord Hatamkhan’s room is fully carpeted. To one corner,
there are stacked bags of flour; in another corner, there are bladders
filled with butter and bales of wool. Seated near the bales, Lady
Sharafnisa is combing wool, and quietly weeping. Her younger sister
Gulchohra is playing by her side.

Gulchohra (reaching out to Lady Sharafnisa):

Why are you crying, sister?

Lady Sharafnisa (repels sister’s outstretched hand):

Go to blazes!

Gulchohra (naughtily, extending her hand again):

Sister, please, for the sake of Allah, tell me, why
are you crying?

Lady Sharafnisa (repels her outstretched hand again):

I told you, go to blazes! Don’t you see I am working?
Don’t bother me. Let me work!

Gulchohra (as before):

But you are not working, only crying. Tell me,
why are you crying? If you don’t tell me, I will call
mother. Come on tell me, why are you weeping?
(pulls off Lady Sharafnisa’s head scarf)

Lady Sharafnisa (taking offence, forcefully, repels her. Gulchohra

falls):
Pah, the impudence! Just go away?! Let me finish
my work!

Gulchohra rises and exits in tears. She goes to her mother, Lady
Shahrabanu, in another room.

Lady Sharafnisa (alone):

The sheer impudence! Now mother will be told
20
 everything. My Allah, if mother comes and asks
me, why are you weeping, how will I answer her?
Oh, I can never say why I am in tears! The best thing
to do is to deny that I have been crying. (Carefully
wiping her eyes with her headscarf)

The door opens; enter Gulchohra with Lady Shahrabanu

who is knitting a sock.

Lady Shahrabanu:
Why did you knock my little girl to the floor?

Lady Sharafnisa (threateningly):

Drop dead! She doesn’t sit quietly still for a minute.
Since this morning, she hasn’t let me comb two
wisps of wool. All this time, she’s been naughty;
snatching the wool from my hands and pulling
my scarf from my head. I got bored with it and
pushed her gently away. She then ran off to you in
a tantrum. No blood was spilt!

Gulchohra:
Mother, I swear to Allah! She is lying! She wasn’t
combing wool, but crying all the time. I said don’t
weep, and she pushed me. That’s how I fell and
hurt myself (crying and wiping her eyes).

Lady Shahrabanu:
Why are you crying, Sharafnisa? What do you
have to grieve or weep about? Glory to Allah, your
father is alive, your mother is alive. As you can see,
your betrothed is a handsome man. You eat well,
you have pretty dresses. What are you crying for?

Lady Sharafnisa:
I swear to Allah, mother, I wasn’t! (pinching
Gulchohra) Dead girl, when was I crying? (Gulchohra
cries in pain once again)

21
Lady Sharafnisa:
Honestly, I wasn’t crying, Mother! Praise Allah,
my father is alive; mother is alive, so why should
I cry?!

Lady Shahrabanu (laughing):

Why didn’t you say anything about your betrothed?
After all, you are betrothed!

Lady Sharafnisa (ironically):

Who’s betrothed?!

Lady Shahrabanu:
Who’s betrothed? You are to your cousin Mr.
Shahbaz! Whose betrothed do you think he is?
Your father, Allah willing, in three weeks time, is
going to hold your wedding, which will be famed
throughout the entire Karabakh region. Only two
days ago he wrote a letter to his friend, Lord Kurban
of Zardab to contract with Shamakhi musicians, so
that they can play at the wedding.

Lady Sharafnisa (squeezing her lower lip between thumb and

forefinger and pulling it down; raises her head):
Oh! What are you talking about, Mum? Shahbaz is
leaving in ten days. (sarcastically) Who’s wedding
is my father preparing? I don’t know!

Lady Shahrabanu (with surprise):

Shahbaz is leaving? Where is he going? With whom
is he going? What are you talking about? For the
sake of Allah, don’t invent such tales! Yes, I can
see you really were crying! It turns out that in fact
“girls have little minds and lots of tears”. Tell me,
who said to you that Shahbaz is leaving?

Lady Sharafnisa (lowers her head):

He told me himself!

22
Lady Shahrabanu:
What? But where is he going?

Lady Sharafnisa:
I don’t know, he said something like “Frankistan”
or, I don’t know exactly, “Parij”..? To hell with
them, I can’t even pronounce them.

Lady Shahrabanu:
Okay, but with whom is he going to Parij?

Lady Sharafnisa:
With our guest, Monsieur Jordan!

Lady Shahrabanu:
With him, our Frankish, who collects all kinds of
brushwood? Why is he going there? What dealings
does he have with this Frankish man? Did his dog
lose its way in Parij?
Lady Sharafnisa:
I don’t know! Shahbaz is an inexperienced boy.
Monsieur Jordan hammered into his head that
girls, as well as brides in Parij, appear in public
with uncovered faces. And lots of other things I
don’t remember. He became crazy and said that
he had to go and see Parij for himself. First, he
muttered that he would ask permission from his
uncle. After this, if he didn’t get it, he said he
would take a horse at night to cross the Araz River
and meet Monsieur Jordan on the other side; going
with him to admire Parij and see the sights.

Lady Shahrabanu (throws the half knitted sock to the floor,

turning to her little daughter):
Gulchohra, go and call Shahbaz here from the other
room. Let’s hear what his story is?

Gulchohra exits.

23
 E ndn o tes
Contents a - Monsieur Jordan is actually Alexis Jordan (1814-1879), a
historically prominent French botanist.

2a - Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist,

laid the foundations for modern schemes of binomial nomenclature.

2b - Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656 -1708) was a French botanist, notable

as the first to make a clear definition of the concept of genus for plants.

2c - John Bartram (1699 - 1777) was an early American botanist, horticulturalist

and explorer.

2d - George Clifford III (1685 - 1760) was a wealthy Dutch banker and one
of the directors of the Dutch East India Company. He is known for his keen
interest in plants and gardens. His estate had a rich variety of plants and he
engaged the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus to write Hortus Cliffortianus
(1737), a masterpiece of early botanical literature.

3a - Qizilbash or Kizilbash is a name given to a wide variety of Shi‘i militant

groups that flourished in Anatolia and Kurdistan from the late 13th century
onwards, who later helped to found the Safavid dynasty of Iran.
4a7 - Aqasi, Haji Mirza (‘Abbas Iravani) (c. 1783–1849) Prime minister of Iran
under Muhammad Shah Qajar from 1835 to 1848; regarded by Bahá’s as the
Antichrist of the Bábí dispensation.

4b - Early in the 19th century, conflicts occurred between Iran and the Herat
khanate for Herat city. England’s intervention in these wars proved unlucky
for Iran. Akhundov was commenting on this.

4c - Rostam is the national hero of Iran from Zabulistan (in Persian mythology)
and the son of Zal and Rudaba. In some ways, the position of Rostam is
curiously parallel to that of Surena, the hero of the Carrhae.

4d - These are genuine incantations recited by dervishes and sorcerers in the

Near East.

4e - Louis-Philippe I (1773 –1850), King of the French from 1830 to 1848

in what was known as the July Monarchy. He was the last king to rule
France, although Napoleon III, styled as an emperor, would serve as its last
monarch.
63
 Ori g inal perf o rmin g cast f o r
t h e first E ur o pean and B ritis h
sta g in g at t h e A rts E ducati o nal
S c h o o l , L o nd o n , A pril 2 0 1 0

Sanan Aliyev
Narrator and MC
for the evening

David Parry
Lord Hatamkhan
Konul Aliyeva - Gulchohra

Born in 1987 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Konul studied at

the gymnasium. During 2004-2008 she studied both
the Arabian and Persian languages at Baku State
University, where she graduated with a BA and later an
MBA in International Business. Konul also, takes part
in a number of community events and is an education
consultant for the Caspian-Khazri Society. Founder
of the “Buta” Folk Dance Ensemble, her inspiration
is traveling and cultural diversity. Lastly, she has had
several articles published in newspapers.

Elisabeth Armstrong-Rosser - Hanperi

Born in 1942, Hamilton New Zealand. M.A. in

English/History: qualified Secondary School teacher.
Some acting experience in school productions and
also teaching drama as an English teacher. Interests: a
voracious reader including history books (especially the
Hapsburg Empire), 1970 thrillers, contemporary writers
especially Paul Auster, tinkling on my old upright
piano, listening to Radio 3. Married twice: have twins
who are married and a son still single. Only connection
with the theatre is a grandfather who was in Music Hall in England and N.Z.
and son in N.Z. who often treads the boards.
64
Geraldine Beskin - Lady Shahrabanu
A bookseller and publisher. Based in London and
mother to a daughter and owned by two cats, her life
is a busy one. An amateur historian, she enjoys sharing
her research with people through biographical talks of
writers and artists that interest her. Poetry in English
or translation, is a quiet haven and reading a poem
last thing at night influences her dreams. Geraldine
has a lifelong love of the theatre and is delighted to be
making this, her theatrical debut.

Antony Gideon - Gulamali

Born and bred in Surbiton, he is married with two

children. Antony has a BA in philosophy from Heythrop
College, London; he now tutors special needs children.
He has recently become involved with Gruntlers as
their official photographer.

Gulnar Hasanova - Lady Sharafnisa

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan. Gulnar is fluent in English,

Azerbaijani, Turkish and Russian. She holds a BA in
Commerce and an MBA from the Azerbaijan State
Economic University, Baku, and an MSc in International
Employment Relations and Human Resources
Management from The London School of Economics,
London. She currently leads the Recruitment Services
Division at The European Azerbaijan Society. Gulnar
is passionate about the preservation of Azerbaijani
culture in all its forms. This is her first experience of the London stage and
she is honoured to appear in tonight’s performance.

65
Valentin Hripko - Mr. Shahbaz

Born in Tallinn, Estonia in 1988. He moved to London

in early 2005 to find his fame and fortune. Since that
time, Valentin has started to perform readings of his
own poetry in both Russian and English. He recently
became a member of Gruntlers and aims to perfect his
work as a performer.

Conrad Peters - Dervish Mastali Shah

Having retired from the corporate world, Conrad

has come full circle and is pursuing his drama and
professional modelling career for the second time
round. Over the years he has appeared in various stage
productions including Sleeping Beauty, Tom Jones,
The Drunkard, Billy Liar and The Bronte’s. Recent
short films include Marty Unplugged, William and the
Moon and Family Trade. Conrad is further developing
his skills by attending selected workshops and using
every opportunity to perform. He is a member of Equity and is profiled on
Spotlight http://www.spotlight.com/8135-0169-9200.

Ilke Tuna - Monsieur Jordan

Born in 1985 in Ýzmir, Turkey. Believing in the

importance of self confidence he achieved a B.Sc. in
Mathematics before joining a number of amateur
theatricals groups. Recently, he took part in Neil
Simon’s “The Good Doctor”, performing as “General
Brasshilov” and “Piotr Semyonich”. He has been acting
and attending workshops since his arrival in London in
2008 and would like to perform further plays.

66
67