‘Andy Warhol in Tehran’ is a delight, an incisive comedy packaged with a serious exploration of art, history, and political values.

Rob Lindley as Warhol captures the artist exactly as he was seen in his public persona, somewhat vapid, seemingly desultory, with a passion for attaching to others’ fame, while amplifying his own. The script by Persian-American playwright Brent Askari gives a knowing monologue delivered with droll deadpan humor by Lindley, providing an entertaining overview of Warhol’s background and his work.

Warhol, who died in 1987 and coined that timeless phrase “15 minutes of fame,” rose to a far more lasting version of it by turning the mundane—Campbell’s Soup Cans, celebrity photos, a five-hour film of someone sleeping—into highly coveted and admired pop art.

Cultivating his own celebrity, he leveraged that as well to boost the price tags on his canvases, his access to well-heeled collectors and famous personalities, ultimately driving demand for commissioned work—which is where the play opens.

Having tapped out other gambits, Warhol in his late career took aim at portraiture of world leaders, reasoning they would need numerous versions of portraits for multiple public spaces. It is just such a commission, for the Empress of Persia, that finds Warhol in Tehran. Lindley’s Warhol, as voiced by the script, keeps us engaged throughout this fast-paced disquisition on Warhol’s background when there comes a knock on the door: room service.

Enter Farhad (Hamid Dehghani), in a gold braided bellhop jacket rolling a cart laden with caviar—and to Warhol’s delight, just $10 a serving. A few moments in, we find this is not just any hotel staffer, but a dissident impersonating a staffer. He aims to take Warhol hostage, in an effort to draw attention to the Iranian dissidents' efforts to remove the repressive Shah of Iran—placed in office by Western governments when the very popular and democratically elected president tried to nationalize Iranian oil, particularly Anglo-Persian Oil.

Warhol, as an artist and particularly with his focus on capturing ephemeral moments and celebrities, had no awareness or even interest in politics in Iran, or anywhere else. Farhad, holding a gun, declares, “We are going to announce we have kidnapped the famous Andy Warhol.”

“Why me?” Warhol says, suggesting Farhad kidnap another hotel guest, Barry Goldwater. “He’s very handsome.”
“What does that have to do with anything,” Farhod snaps back, seemingly infuriated by Warhol’s nonchalance and disengagement with the seriousness of his situation. Warhol was chosen, “Because you’re the most decadent artist alive. You see, Andy Warhol, we want our 15 minutes of fame.”

As the two wait for the getaway van, the playwright uses the dialog to reveal the characters. While the fictional kidnap attempt never happened, everything else about Warhol’s background, including the visit to Tehran, and everything that Farhad describes about Iranian politics and history, is factual.

Hamid Dehghani’s performance as Farhad is surely informed by his background as an award-winning actor and director in Iran. And likewise the script carries an authenticity that comes from intimacy with, and passion about Iran. Northlight’s production of ‘Andy Warhol in Tehran’ is a unique expression from those who know, and comes highly recommended. It runs through February 19, and hopefully even longer.