19th Istanbul Theater Festival to open with play by Polish theater

ISTANBUL

‘No Matter How Hard We Tried’ will be staged by Polish theater group TR Warszawa in the opening of the festival.

The 19th Istanbul Theater Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), will open tomorrow with a performance by Polish Theater group TR Warszawa at the Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage.

One of Polish theater’s young and innovative directors, Grzegorz Jarzyna, will be presented with an honorary award after TR Warszawa’s play, “No Matter How Hard We Tried,” which will also be staged May 10.

In the play, Jarzyna stages a cutting-edge adaptation of Dorota Maslowska’s seemingly absurd drama. The text, consisting of subversively transformed quotes from pop-culture and national stereotypes, exposes, in a masterly way, the falsehood of the language of advertisements, glossy magazines and tabloids and confronts consumerist dreams with the reality of a grim life. It also mocks the shallowness of media and show-business, but the undertaking is only designed as a cover for the posing of a more serious question about “us” and national identity.

Four performances organized as part of the 2014 cultural program celebrating 600 years of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Poland will also take place during the festival.

100 performances

Until June 5, the festival will host 100 performances by seven foreign and 35 local Turkish theater, dance and performance companies as well as other attractions such as free Q&A sessions, screenings, performances and workshops attended by famous guests and experts.

Thirty-three of the local productions in the 19th Istanbul Theatre Festival’s program will enjoy their Turkish premieres, three of which will be co-produced by the festival.

Within the scope of the celebrations for William Shakespeare’s 450th birthday in 2014, the festival will host the Propeller Theater Company, one of the most important companies staging Shakespeare plays today.

The festival will take place at different venues  such as Bisahne, Cevahir Stage, DOT, Haldun Taner, ikincikat-karaköy, Kenter Theater, Moda Stage, Sainte Pulcherie French High School, Salon, Şişli Blackout, Üsküdar Studio and Üsküdar Tekel.