The Last Leaf, a movement for getting universal
By: Reza Ashofteh, National Association of Iran Theater Critics
The Last Leaf, a show about peace and friendship has started its performances from our dear Iran and is going to be performed all around the world.  It is a creative and new movement that an Iranian group has invited others to take part in an international show and our theater needs it more than any other thing because we can not only express ourselves in such movements but also get familiar with the last dramatic techniques and methods.
"The Last Leaf" is a simple and profound show. It is simple since everybody can easily understand it and the audience knows that he/she is facing with a linear story. But it is profound since understanding the peace and friendship as a believable concept needs a golden chance. It means making such attitudes in us require effective images. Humankind is naturally opposed to war and riot but perhaps the war and violence is human first answer to critical and overwrought situations and conditions. While we can safely pass the all crises through talking. Therefore the art and especially the dramatic arts are effective solutions for the induction of functional concepts in the life. If we have been accustomed to seeing theater from the childhood and if the theater gives the basic and deep concepts to its audiences we have been unexpectedly vaccinated against the hardships and abnormalities so Mohammad Boroumand basically emphasizes on the peace and friendship to prevent bloodshed and violence as much as possible.
In order to be understandable in the world "The Last Leaf" has been produced non-verbal and with a combination of puppet and actor with mask and using of cartoon. This combination not only presents a projective and different situation but also gives a more effective perspective to its audiences. Emphasizing on some popular movies and cartoons will be leading to a better relationship with the considered concepts. Charlie Chaplin in "The Great Dictator" and "Tom & Jerry" are of these effective moments that are earlier associated with the main concept of "The Last Leaf". The purpose of performing a show is just to get to such moment and function to create better communication areas. Developing this relationship needs to the methods and techniques. Variety of methods and tricks and audiovisual elements give more precise rhythm to the play. Also the inter-textual relationship with formerly known works of art creates an area for a better relationship. In addition, today it is more concerned with combining the processes and sorting the opposite and unlike methods and systems. Although it wasn't good in the past to combine the cinema and theater today this kind of combination is necessary since according to the available capacities the current world can be interpreted better.  Based on the available information the audience also wants to get an effective interpretation.
The story is that there is "the struggle for life" principle in the animal world but this is human who disrupts the existing order with the useless and obstreperous challenges. If humankind is dependent to the nature he/she will never be involved in battle. In this show, the mouse is fighting with the insect, the cat with the mouse and then the dog with the cat. But finally this is human who is going to destroy the all animals by hiring a robot and it scourges human too.  Now this atypical play should be changed to the peace and friendship and consider the nature order as the world customary rule. That is the play should be drawn differently. One of the well-known artists gets mediator for a better event. He goes on stage and says his opinion about the play and wants a child to figure out another end for it.
It has been appeared the limbo in "The Last Leaf" and a new resurrection has been formed to warn us that the life can be different; and it is dependent on our heart selection and will. American, Canadian and Afghan players and puppeteers have been able to be the best in this full of human concepts arena.
Mohammad Boroumand that has the puppet theater experience as well as working in the field of animation in his artistic resume could experience a new condition that represents a considerable event. Perhaps going to the theater like this is the solution for exposing our country theater to the world. It is not good if we always want that they look for us since today we can also give creative suggestions for creating art pure chances and events. Although this leadership is more noticeable in the cinema today it is the theater turn to be leadership in this area too.

A criticism on "The Last Leaf" puppet show
By: Dr. Andisheh Ghadirian, professor at Mashhad Ferdowsi University
Reaching peace through war and bloodshed
Seemorgh International Group has staged "The Last Leaf" Show in Tehran and Iranian other cities. Just a day after the memorable and obstreperous performance of "All of my Sons" directed by Seyed Hojat Tabatabaie , Mashhad theater saw the performance of "The Last Leaf" that is produced by a group of the world best theater actors/actresses like Douglas Kester, Kelsey Youhara, Jessica Sim and Samiallah Ataie and Iranian well-known director Mohammad Boroumand.
Emphasizing on human being absolute interests and ignoring the war etiology, The Last Leaf puppet drama containing a neo-liberalism viewpoint tries to be the mouthpiece of the peace and friendship.
In his show, Boroumand doesn't intent to know the fights context and find their roots; He condemns the most superficial layer of fight and indentifies human bloody battles with the chases in the animal wild life. So we see that he ignores the network generating new fights which unlike the vertical order of the world classic militaries, are formed of horizontal coalition and eliminates the religious fundamentalism, destructive movements, militia groups organized by charismatic leaders, extremist volunteers and terrorist cells.
Considering Hitler as the symbol of a person who idolizes the power and praises the war is the writer's careful and proper selection. Because the contest between the mouse, the cat and the dog in "The Last Leaf" is a reflection of two principles of " struggle for life" and "the selection of the most suitable"  in Nazi doctrine. Nazism is the enemy of Liberalism, the opponent of the individual rights and liberties and the advocate of militarizing the governmental and social system.
Hitler's tendency to spread the automatic technologies appears a dreadful war machine on Boroumand's show stage that is a symbol of industrial and military glory in one the most disciplinarian and developed countries of Europe in threshold of the Second World War. This machine and its aggressive behavior suggest that Nazism is going to create the discipline for destruction and use the order for disorder.
Boroumand's emphasis on halting the destroying function of the automatic war machine is related to human imminent elimination from the power military circle.
Technological evolution process is in a hurry that makes Britain Defense Ministry to compile some policies named "Acceptable Machine Behavior"; since that in many of today modern battles the attack initiative or preemptive defense is the responsibility of the systems that act in the chain of command and control without human intervention.  
In Boroumand's drama, Hitler's war machine is also a fearsome dragon that defeats its creator and planner and ejects him from the show scene.
Ghelgheli, that is the representative of this show underage audiences, pulls out the robot CPU and replaces it with an olive branch having received the peace bird.
Through this he changes the military technology that is the forcible symbol of our era to a fair and philanthropist thing.
Through talking with "Boroumand" and his friends before and after the performance I found that the growing prevalence of deplorable phenomenon of "child soldier" has raised serious concerns among world pacifist artists and the attendance of Ghelgheli in this show as the reconciliation ambassador is a step to convey the silent scream of pacifism of children to adults.
In this show, Ghelgheli is the symbol of childish innocence and the representative of the poor children suffered of war that criticizes the abomination and coarseness of violence and war with open eye and ear.   
Hitler that is the symbol of the mutation of mankind fierce temper peels through the peaceful mediation of Ghelgheli and his human pure essence is unfold in the face of a beautiful woman that is the symbol of vivification and birth.
Meantime, Ghelgheli's hand of friendship to the robot made by Hitler is a psycho- technical gesture with the concept of reconciliation between ethics and technology. Ghelgheli's reformative act gives this message to the audiences that we must use the industrial and technological tools to increase the psychic efficiencies and promote human being's mental health.
But do indeed the advanced military technologies victimize in human's today war? Our answer to this question is negative.
Dear Mohammad Boroumand knows better than me that since the end of the Second World War until today what has caused the war continuation in the world is not the dark machine intelligence; because the war tools are not independent and their performance is related to human factor that uses it.
Discussing about technological dominance over the fellow, the subjectivity philosophy will be raised and human, as a philosopher having the ability of reflective thinking namely "thinking of self" and "thinking about self thoughts", will be known as the responsible.
Using the "cut-jump" technique is of important notes in Boroumand's directing so that it makes the audience to wind his/her head every ten seconds and gaze on a flat screen having been placed on the left side of the stage to watches some sequences of "Tom & Jerry" animation that is the masterpiece of William Hana  and Josef Barbar.  
Presenting the eternal sequence of "The Great Dictator" of Charles Spenser Chaplin in the scene related to Hitler's overcoming the world is memorable and gives diversity to the puppetry performance.
Although I deeply respect Boroumand's idea and his human intentions I tell him that as long as we should pass the war and bloodshed to reach the peace, "The Last Leaf" idealistic message won't exceed the border of an exaggerated complacency.
But discussing this bitter truth doesn't mean to neglect the value of Boroumand and Seemorgh International Group's artistic work and to neglect to celebrate his commendable determination for spreading love and friendship all around the world.
Using the puppeteers from countries like United States of America, Canada, Afghanistan and Iran in "The Last Leaf" suggests that it takes collective, worldwide and multilateral will to realize the comprehensive peace in the world.
Inviting to "empathy and unity notwithstanding the multiplicity and plurality" is the hidden message of Seemorgh International Group in this show.
Boroumand and his group remind us that the borders of "human country" is beyond the political and geographical borders and it won't be possible to reach the peak of reconciliation crest and peace phoenix (seemorgh) without the effort of every members of human great society.