State Theaters to stage ‘local productions’

ISTANBUL

Only “local productions” will be staged this coming season by Turkey’s State Theaters institution, its General Director Nejat Birecik has announced. 

“As humanist, nationalist artists, we will open the season with only local productions, in order to boost national feelings,” Birecik said, speaking on the upcoming opening of the theater year under the slogan “Turkey’s curtains open with Turkish theater.” 

The State Theaters will open the new season on Oct. 4 with eight plays on 65 stages across Turkey. 
Among the “local” productions in the new season are Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s “Huzur,” Recep Bilginer’s “Yunus Emre,” and Nahit Sırrı Örik’s “Düşüş,” as well as plays already staged in recent years such as “Murat IV,” “Ya Devlet Başa Ya Kuzgun Leşe” and “Rumuz Goncagül.” 

Play on coup banned 

Speaking to the left-wing Turkish news website soL, theater actor Orhan Aydın criticized the State Theaters’ policy for the coming season. 

Aydın said Birecik had called all regional directors and demanded that all pre-season rehearsals be halted, as the program would be changed. He added that the planned play “Resimli Osmanlı Tarihi ve Çıkmaz Sokak” (Ottoman History in Pictures and the Dead End) had been canceled following the failed July 15 coup attempt.
 
“The play, which was already in the repertoire of the State Theaters as well as others, has been banned on the grounds that it is about a coup. This is a first in Turkey,” Aydın said, adding that Birecik had no authority to make such a decision.