State Theaters to focus on national, historical plays

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Speaking about the 2013-2014 season, the State Theaters General Director Mustafa Kurt says that both national and historical works will be highlighted in this year’s repertoire.

State Theaters (DT) will welcome the new season with 150 works, most of which will be staged for the first time. The goal of the organization is to draw people of every age to theaters.

Speaking about the 2013-2014 season, DT General Director Mustafa Kurt said that with more than 150 plays, 100 of which will be staged for the first time, DT would open the curtain in 58 theaters in 23 cities. He said that they would draw everyone to theaters with many national works from Yaşar Kemal to Necip Fazıl and from Reşat Nuri Güntekin to Orhan Kemal, adding that they would set more place for national works in the new season.

Kurt said that both national and historical works would be highlighted in the season, adding, “We want to come to get involved with our history. We have succeeded with many magnificent works in previous seasons but I think that historical plays have been neglected for long years. It is necessary to make them more visible.”

He said that they would also stage works that had been in the DT repertoire for long years, and continued, “Every play should be renewed every 10 years because we want children to grow up by seeing historical plays. We have a very rich historical play repertoire and we want to show it to people as far as possible. For example, we had ‘Hürrem Sultan’ last year. We have works like ‘Kösem Sultan,’ ‘Tohum’ and ‘Toprak.’ Historical works will also be staged in the next season but there are less historical play writers. We will do our best to stage more historical plays in the next seasons.” Kurt said that they had sensitivity to some issues just like society, and as a director, he had to take them into consideration. “Let people see Necip Fazıl’s plays and Yaşar Kemal’s plays, too, as well as Orhan Kemal and Selahattin Eyyubi. We did not discriminate against them. We have many plays that make us laugh and make us worry at the same time. This is why I want everyone to come to see all of our plays.” “If there is someone who does not know about theater in Turkey, this is our fault. We will bring theater to them or make them come and see our plays somehow,” said Kurt, adding that they had selected plays appealing to those who had never been to a theater before.

Plays for everyone

He said that the repertoire included youth plays, historical plays, periodical works and classical works.
 
“Besides national works, works from the world known writers such as William Shakespeare, Carlo Goldoni, Anton Çehov and George Orwell will also meet theater goers. We don’t only open the season of DT but the season of all Turkey. We have a repertoire appealing to all sections. Everyone will like it.
 
We had writers whose works have not been staged for long years; such as Necip Fazıl. We will stage for the first a play of him, which he gave to DT 40 years ago.”

Scriptwriting competition

Kurt said that they would also make a first in their history by organizing a scriptwriting competition. He said that theater had difficulty finding scriptwriters and they would pave the way for new scriptwriters with the competition. “It is DT’s mission to bring new works to Turkish theater and introduce Turkish writers to the world. By considering this, we plan to organize a scriptwriting competition under the headlines such as the Çanakkale victory; Ottomans going to war; Sarıkamış battle; Ottoman in the Caucasian front; our women in the World War etc. If we are efficient, we will include the first three plays in the 2014-2015 repertoire and stage them. We have chosen historical topics because we are a nation that loves history. We want to confront our history and discuss it. I believe that qualified works will be submitted to the competition.”

Kurt said that they had been working on new projects and would organize play weeks. “Shakespeare and Chekov weeks will revive the capital. Ankara DT will perform Macbeth, and the Merchant of Venice; Antalya DT will perform Othello; İzmir DT will perform Romeo and Juliet; and Istanbul DT will perform Hamlet.”