Moliere’s play staged for 600th time in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Moliere’s famous play “The Bourgeois Gentleman,” starring veteran theater actor Haldun Dormen, has been staged for the 600th time in Istanbul.

Speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, Dormen said it was a big success to stage a Moliere play for the 600th time outside France.

“The French, unfortunately, did not show any interest, so I’m a little bit surprised, because they need to show interest. Their own play has been staged in a foreign country like Turkey for 600 times.

“One of the reasons why the play is so successful is because the audience fills the room, applauds and likes it,” he said.

Kedi Visual Arts general art director Hakan Altıner said that the audience would find the play impressive and beyond their expectations in the play, adding: “Thousands of people found what they looked for in the play. This is what we want; that our productions being repeated hundreds of times.”

Altıner, who is also the director of “The Bourgeois Gentleman,” said that it was a world record that a French play has been running for so long in a foreign language.

“First of all, we owe it to Dormen’s great energy. One of the main rules of theater is that we tell the story of a human to people in a humane way,” he said.

Due to the 10th year of the play staged by the Kedi Performing Arts, a special ceremony was held at Artı Sahne on April 4.

The artists and the contributors of the play were presented with plaques at the event.

“The Bourgeois Gentleman” satirizes the pretensions of a social climber whose affectations are absurd to everyone but himself. Jourdain, a wealthy tradesman, hires tutors in music, dancing, fencing, and philosophy and patronizes a fashionable tailor in order to acquire gentlemanly polish.