EVIL SPIRIT (Char Voki): A Play

By Alexandre Shirvanzade, Translated by Nishan Parlakian, Introduction by Edward Allworth

"In Evil Spirit, Shirvanzade reverses the romantic pattern seen in many Middle Eastern tales about legendary lovers to fashion a disturbing variant. The playwright weaves together the ominous force of an Oriental superstition about possession by dark spirits with the omnipresent Middle Eastern story of star-crossed lovers. The effect of this combination of instantly familiar themes played out against a down-to-earth undercurrent of everyday drudgery and drunkenness dominating the lives of several principals, is devastating" from the introduction by Edward Allworth

With a powerful rendition of Evil Spirit from the Armenian original, Professor Nishan Parlakian has added appreciably to the Middle Eastern repertoire for English speaking theater.

St. Vartan Press (1980)