Istanbul Theater Festival program announced

ISTANBUL

The 20th edition of the Istanbul Theater Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), will take place from May 3 to 28. The festival will once again offer theatergoers an extensive program, featuring a range of plays, dance shows and performances from Turkey and abroad, as well as parallel events. 

This year the festival will present a total of 32 performances, nine from abroad and 23 from Turkey, in 25 different venues, as well as 18 parallel events. It will see the Turkish premiere of 21 local productions as well as a world premiere of one international production. 

The event will also feature a number of free talks, performances, symposiums, exhibitions, master classes and workshops with the participation of well-known guests and experts.

This year, the festival’s first honorary award went to actor Metin Akpınar and the second one to actress Şahika Tekand. 

The festival’s final honorary award will be presented to the Berliner Ensemble. 

As part of the Istanbul Theater Festival, a special platform will be organized for international theater professionals from May 19 to 22. This platform will be joined by members of the international network for playwrights The Fence and of the network for theater translators Eurodram.  

For its 20th edition, the festival is launching a new project titled Dance Platform. Within Dance Platform, professional dancers will stage short performances of their projects. In this platform aimed at professional guests of the festival from abroad, projects selected by Director of the Istanbul Theater Festival Leman Yılmaz and performance artists Aylin Ersöz and Tuğçe Tuna will have chance to be seen by professionals from the world of performing arts, and particularly the world of dance.  

The 20th Istanbul Theater Festival will feature nine international productions from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Iran, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland. 

“The Kindly Ones,” “Secret Face,” “Hate Radio,” “Ham Havâyi,” “Zululuzu,” “The Complete Deaths,” “D’Après Une Histoire Vrai,” “Needles and Opium” and “Trois Hommes Vertes” will be among these productions.
 
There will also be 23 plays, dance pieces and performances from Turkey. The festival will see the Turkish premieres of 21 local productions.

The opening play will be “Waiting for Godot,” one of the most important theater texts of Beckett, performed by Şahika Tekand and Studio Oyuncuları. 

“Servants,” “Schizo Shakes,” “e-refugee.com,” “I Shut Down My Heart until the Apocalypse,” “Three Sisters,” “Hero’s Handbook,” “Coriolanus,” “The Moment” and “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” are other locals plays to be staged. 

Other events at the festival 

The festival will host free Q&A’s, performances, workshops, symposium, exhibition and master classes attended by famous guests and experts. Due to limited capacity, reservation is required for side events. 

Among these events will be an exhibition “25 Years of Turkish Theater Magazine Tiyatro” to open at the Nazım Hikmet Culture and Art House. 

“The 3rd International Interdisciplinary Theater Meeting,” Dance Master Class: Olivier Dubois,” “Reading Theater and Panel: The Mask and the Spirit,” “Workshop: Theater Criticism,” “Panel: The World’s Most Spectacular Theater Festival, Avignon” and “Panel: To Create Feminist Framed Stage Performance for Children and Young People” are some of the titles of the events to be held as part of the festival. 

The festival performances and its side events will take place at a wide range of venues across the city. Tickets will go on sale on March 12.