Istanbul Theater Festival to host ‘Hamlet | Collage’

ISTANBUL

Organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, the 22nd edition of the Istanbul Theater Festival is getting ready to meet theatergoers in November. One of the highlights of the festival program will be the Canadian theater and film director Robert Lepage’s “Hamlet | Collage,” in which he reimagines Shakespeare’s renowned tragedy.

The performances will be held on Nov. 22 and 23 at Zorlu PSM Main Theater. “Hamlet | Collage” will be realized as part of the “Golden Mask in Istanbul,” a project born out of a collaboration between Istanbul Theater Festival and Moscow Golden Mask Festival.

“Hamlet | Collage,” a masterpiece that brings theater and contemporary art together with a meticulous dramaturgical sensibility and excellent interpretation, is the first collaboration between Lepage and Moscow’s innovative theater company Theater of Nations. It centers on Hamlet as he “gazes” into his consciousness.

As a character whose conscious is influenced and shaped by an overwhelming sense of justice, Hamlet is suspended above the stage mid-air on a large open-sided cube with ghosts of other characters from Shakespeare’s play and is delivered with an awe-inspiring mastery by Evgeny Mironov.

Hamlet’s dialogue with death, the expression of his existence through death, and the reflection of a mind gradually permeated by corruption are highlights of Mironov’s portrayal.

Mironov, also the artistic director of Theater of Nations, breathes life into eleven characters from Hamlet and recreates them in Hamlet’s consciousness on this cube design that challenges the laws of physics. A popular face of Russian cinema, Mironov is also known for his roles in “Love,” a film directed by Todorovski in 1991 and an adaptation of “The Idiot” by the Russian television.

Lepage had tried Carl Fillion’s cube design in his play “Needles and Opium” based on the lives of Miles Davis and Jean Cocteau. Images projected on the cube using video-art will take the audience on a breathtaking journey.

Ticket sales for “Hamlet | Collage” performances on Nov. 22 and 23 will begin on July 6 at 10:30 and are available at Biletix sales counters and İKSV box office.

The prices for the other categories of the performances are 80, 120, 150, 180 and 250 Turkish Liras.

The complete program of the 22nd Istanbul Theater Festival will be announced in September.