World theater companies to take stage in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

The 26th Istanbul Theater Festival is all set to amuse its visitors by presenting 24 plays and dance performances from Türkiye and abroad beginning from Oct. 25 to Nov. 26.

This year’s program, featuring 15 national premieres, three screenings, and six international productions from France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Greece in 18 venues, is curated by the veteran Turkish director, Işıl Kasapoğlu.

In a brand new production based on the original story of Rudyard Kipling’s classic, “Jungle Book,” the world-renowned dancer and choreographer Akram Khan and his company reinterpret the journey of Mowgli through her eyes as a climate refugee. Accompanied by breathtaking visuals and a wistful score, “Jungle Book Reimagined” is a call for all generations to create a better world together.

United Kingdom’s award-winning dance theater company Lost Dog, led by director Ben Duke, creates a fresh adaptation of Bard’s famous love story unlike any other. Forming a unique bond on stage, actors Kip Johnson and Solène Weinachter portray a humorous and heartfelt duet about love and loss in “Juliet & Romeo.”

Greek director and actor Euripides Laskaridis, who is considered among the major figures that will shape the future of the European theatre scene, visits the festival for the first time ever.

As one of today’s leading works of the Theater of the Absurd, “Titans” offers an unforgettable experience by offering the audience an opportunity to leave everything behind and explore an entirely different universe.

A modern spin on one of the French playwright Molière’s most famous plays, “The Bourgeois Gentleman Remix,” by the internationally-acclaimed directing duo M. Caner Alper and Mehmet Binay sets the festival off to a great start.

The oldest operating theater company Comédie-Française invites festivalgoers to a Molière Marathon with three screenings of the classic plays staged to celebrate the playwright’s birthday.

Director Ivo van Hove’s uncensored “Tartuffe or the Hypocrite,” Claude Stratz’s “The Imaginary Invalid” and Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq’s “The Bourgeois Gentleman” will be featured at the historical Atlas 1948 Movie Theater.

Istanbul Metropolitan City Theater and its seasoned cast also join the festival with “Tartuffe,” staging the famous translation of the legendary Turkish poet Orhan Veli Kanık.

The festival will also celebrate Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 100th birthday with “Pasolini’s Visions: Secret Fires,” in which the choreographer Monica Casadei and her Artemis Danza Company bring the iconic Italian film director’s unique artistic vision to life through dance.

Zorlu PSM, Maximum UNIQ Hall, İş Sanat Culture Center, Ses 1885 Theater and Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall will be among the 26th Istanbul Theater Festival venues.