In a first in 106 years, İstanbul City Theaters will host a Kurdish theater play

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Announcing its 2020 programme in a press conference, the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM) City Theaters will host a theater play in Kurdish by a private theater group in October 2020.

The administration of the İMM City Theaters shared its new programme with the public in a press conference held in the Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Theater Hall on September 21. The City Theaters have opened their stages to private theater groups that are having financial difficulties due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

40 theater plays for adults, 10 for children

As indicated by Hülya Muratlı, the İMM Culture Department Head, the City Theaters will host 50 theater plays by private theater groups in October in a first. While the intended audience of 40 of these plays are adults, the remaining 10 theater plays will be on stage for children. According to Muratlı, something similar can also be done in November.

A first in 106 years of history

There is also a theater play in Kurdish on the programme announced by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theaters. Teatra Jiyana Nû (New Life Theater), which is the theater group of the Mezopotamya Cultural Center, will perform the theater play "Bêrû" (Faceless) by Dario Fo from Italy in Gaziosmanpaşa Theater Hall of the City Theaters.

Translated into Kurdish by Dilawer Zera, directed by Nazmi Karaman and performed by Rugeş Kırıcı, Ömer Şahin, Rewşan Apaydin and Cihat Ekinci, this theater play will mark the first Kurdish theater play to be staged in the City Theatres in their 106 years of history.

Ömer Şahin: Audience should come to laugh

Speaking to bianet about the two-act comedy being a part of the İMM City Theaters' October programme, Ömer Şahin from the TJN theater group has said that the City Theaters made an announcement to support private theater groups amid pandemic and the TJN applied with two theater plays.

Şahin has indicated that their theater play "Bêrû" has been approved and it will meet its audience in the Gaziosmanpaşa Theater Hall on October 13.

Şahin has said that the TJN has staged its Kurdish plays in the theater halls of some districts so far, but it is the first time that its plays have been added to the program of the İMM City Theaters. "This will be a new experience not for us, but for the City Theaters," Şahin has indicated.

Commenting further on the issue, Şahin has noted that this Kurdish theater play has found the opportunity to be staged as a result of the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) attitude towards the Kurds since the repeat İstanbul local elections in June 2019.

Noting that they do not know how much longer it will continue like this, he has said, "The audience should come to laugh. They will not regret it." (FD/SD)