Messy Archives, Contested Narratives: Queer Theater and Performance Historiography on Turkey

Asian Culture and History, 2016

Over the past ten years, the number of alternative theatres run by young artists in Istanbul has increased significantly. Political theatre has become an important part of this new cultural milieu. This article explores the emergence of queer theatre as part of this trend, especially in the last five years. It also examines the developments that gave rise to this theatre and elaborates on the topic by analysing two plays Cadinin Bohcasi (Sack of the Witch) and 80lerde Lubunya Olmak (Being a Transsexual in the 80s).

Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, 2012

This article focuses on the role of the stage in complex modes of gender performativity in the work of three Turkish performers: Zeki Mu ̈ren (1931–1996), Bu ̈lent Ersoy (b. 1952), and Seyfi Dursunog ̆lu (b. 1932) a.k.a. Huysuz Virjin [Cranky Virgin]. These three, I suggest, are the pioneers of contemporary Turkish queer performance. Their performances – both on- and off-stage – are validated through a reiterative absence of queerness in their everyday lives and stand in the midst of various negotiations between queers and the secular Islamic nation-state in Turkey. In the works of Mu ̈ren, Ersoy, and Huysuz, the stage is suggestive of a space where queerness can be managed. It is a contested space that does at least allow for the communication of queer ideas to a wider audience. I discuss the works of these three performers as three variations of queerness in Turkey in relation to different eras and different political climates that are directly related to the nation-state’s desire to perform modernity. While explicating complicated modes of gender performativity, I consider the stage as the primary space for a queer body to exist. Through this discussion, I aim to activate debates both within and against the context of secular Islam, on gendered political space, and on those overlooked sexualized spaces in which the nation-state produces powerful yet unstable values to manage queer subjectivity in contemporary Turkey. Keywords: stage; space; queer; gender performativity; contemporary Turkey

Arab Stages, Volume 9, Fall 2018

Theatre in Turkey has arguably changed a lot in recent years if we consider how it dares to present untold and unrepresented stories in a highly affective and creative ways, through form and content as has never before been seen on stage. Some of the most remarkable examples of this trend, which I would like analyze here, are performances questioning the minority, identity, and gender problems, which also involve the field of theatre historiography. Here I will focus on three performances staged during this theatre season in Istanbul. First, Imagined Performance (Hayal-i Temsil) written by Ahmet Sami Özbudak, directed by Yiğit Sertdemir and staged by the Istanbul Municipal Theatre, brings together, through Armenian make-up artist Dikran’s memories, two noted Muslim actresses, Afife Jale and Bedia Muvahhit, who first dared to appear on stage in the late Ottoman era and who never acted together during their theatre careers. Second, Who is Out There? The Last Hamlet of Mr. Muhsin (Kim Var Orada? Muhsin Bey’in Son Hamlet’I,) written and staged by BGST, brings the construction of modern Turkish theatre history into discussion through the story of the leading theatrical figure Muhsin Ertuğrul. Third and last, Forgotten (Unutulan) written by Elif Ongan Tekçe, directed by Sanem Öge, and staged by Yersiz Kumpanya is a performance inspired by the life of Armenian actress and writer Mari Nıvart, presenting the story of two Armenian actresses who were imprisoned and forgotten in the basement of an old hotel where they served as forced labor to pay their company’s tour debts. I’ve chosen these plays not only because they are biographic-historical plays dealing with the same historical period (around 1915), mixing real documents and fictive scenes, but also because they tell the story of leading theatrical figures through the eyes of Armenian artists, and open a larger debate about the role of history in the making of this theatre, and criticizing the field named “modern Turkish Theatre.” Despite the big blind spots in theatre history that have not seen the constitutive role of minorities, especially the Armenian theatre and its actors, these performances shed light on unseen and hidden points. These works re-value the role of Armenian actors who appeared on stage only as comic figures up to now; the challenges of appearing on stage as a Muslim or Armenian woman are shown through many people’s stories we did not previously know, our theatre historiography has been shaped without them. Still, such key concepts as “collective memory,” “theatre historiography,” and “minority and women’s issues,” draw attention to the forgotten, untold, and hidden things at the heart of the theatrical and cultural life through the history of the republic.

Comparative Drama, 2018

This essay is the introduction to the "Performing Turkishness" special issue of Comparative Drama, edited by Hülya Adak and Rüstem Ertuğ Altınay. The purpose of the special issue is to address the gap in the scholarship on theatre and politics in Turkey and its diasporas. Organized thematically and chronologically, the essays cover the period from the rise of European theatre and the transformation of Ottoman performance genres in the nineteenth century to the work of minoritarian theatres and independent companies in contemporary Turkey. While each essay focuses on a specific production, dramatic text, or performance genre, the authors situate their analyses within a broader historical and artistic framework. With this introduction, the authors aim to complement their work by presenting an historical overview of theatre in Turkey and its diasporas as well as a brief discussion of contemporary trends and recent productions.

Critical Stages, Volume. 17, 2018

When I was writing a draft for this report, I realised that in Istanbul, the most populated city in Turkey, more than 150 theatre productions are being staged every evening. It is quite surprising and gratifying to witness this, despite the socio-political crisis and the censorship in art. Actually, for a while it has been discussed that Turkish people are divided into two sharp poles both in terms of political and cultural life, namely the Republicans and the conservatives. However, the landscape of theatre studies presents a contrast. On one hand, especially over the last ten years, theatre productions in Turkey have a very prosperous landscape. One can find various trends, theatrical forms, new dramaturgical and narrative techniques ranging from musical, in-yer-face, feminist theatre, queer studies, performance art to storytelling forms, monodrama, monologue drama, solo-performance, newer adaptations of classical texts and traditional forms. More recently, a number of new groups, new venues, theatre and performance research centers such as GalataPerform, Tiyatro Medresesi, Kadıköy Theatron which are seeking for new theatrical forms, acting styles, narrative techniques, have emerged. Concordantly, the number of theatre critics and new theatre magazines, websites, blogs focusing on current performances have been gradually increasing. Additionally, there are now more than thirty-five academic departments in Theatre, Acting, Performance Arts, Dramaturgy Studies all around Turkey.

Theatre Research International, 2023

In the last twenty years, memory has gained broader attention in Turkey's social, cultural and political arena. In line with this movement, independent and subsidized theatres produced plays engaging with Armenian history through diverse political and aesthetic agendas. Among these works, public and state theatre productions remained mostly invisible in theatre scholarship due to their ambiguous position that does not directly align with the framework of political theatre. This article examines the adaptation of the Ottoman Armenian playwright Hagop Baronian's Adamnapuyj aravelyan () as Şark Dişçisi (The Oriental Dentist) () by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theatres (İBBŞT). While promoting confrontation with the past, Şark Dişçisi eliminates the crucial political insights of its source text and their ramifications for contemporary demands for historical justice regarding the  Armenian Genocide. The intersection of revisionist theatre historiography and broader political dynamics in the adaptation process reveals the ambivalences of post-Genocide memory work in Turkey.

Performance Research, 2022

How do queer intellectuals produce dramatic texts for utopian archival projects? How do (once) hidden theatre practices exist in a complicated relationship with the claims about covert or clandestine performances in the messy afterlives of such unorthodox archives? This essay explores such processes and how they unfolded in the context of Turkish opera by focusing on the work of Rıza Nur (1879-1942). Rıza Nur was a queer Turkish politician who created an archive of resistance to propagate his ultra-nationalist and eugenicist utopian vision for Turkey’s future during the country’s formative years. In addition to his proposed programs for Turkey’s revivification and the establishment of an ultra-nationalist party, the archive also included Nur’s memoirs, essays, poetry, and two of his librettos. Nur trusted this archive to multiple European libraries on the condition that it would not be accessible until 1960. Nur’s desire was that once his archive would become public, it would transform Turkish people’s understanding of the past, make them recognize him as an unappreciated true leader, and adopt his utopian vision. Rıza Nur’s librettos demonstrate how operatic writing can function as an undercover strategy of queer self-making. The librettos reveal how archives function not only as repositories but also as sites of production, and how dramatic texts can gain queer dimensions and political significance in relation to other texts. Archives can thus provide crucial insights into discrete theatre practices and create important opportunities to review and revise performance historiographies. Nevertheless, the limited scholarly attention Nur’s librettos have received suggests how disciplinary and methodological conventions may render dramatic texts invisible even when they are in plain sight. Finally, Nur’s ultra-nationalist and eugenicist utopian archive challenges the tendency to associate queer utopian performance with progressive politics.

The contemporary landscape of Turkish theater, particularly in Istanbul, is characterized by vibrancy; however, it has not yet achieved a fully realized national identity. The innovative productions frequently draw upon Western theater traditions, resulting in a challenge for the establishment of an original theatrical ethos. This predicament can be attributed to the Republic's brief century-long history, which has similarly rendered modern theater a nascent concept. The Republic's reform trajectory, which has a pronounced orientation towards the West, has prioritized theater as a vehicle for cultural enlightenment. Instead of merely mirroring contemporary society, the early Republic's objective to forge a transcendent cultural identity suppressed artistic creativity. The imposition of Western paradigms often overshadowed the celebration of the inherent richness found in traditional Turkish theater. Subsequent sections will illustrate how the style of theater evolved during the Westernization movements of the 19th century within the Ottoman Empire, during which traditional forms were frequently marginalized.

British Journal of Middle East Studies , 2015

This article focuses on the amateur theatre of the People's House and the consumption of state-promoted mixed-gender activities in the 1930s and 1940s in Turkey. The People's Houses were community centres established in many Turkish towns between 1932 and 1950. They performed activities in adult education and political indoctrination with the chief aim to propagate the socio-cultural changes the state had been initiating since 1923. Drawing on complaint letters and investigative reports, this article focuses on the presence and activities of women in the People's Houses; reviews the tension produced upon the introduction of mixed-gender entertainment and social interaction like theatre within largely sex-segregated local societies; studies the practices performed by men and women and the discourses they articulated in response to and in an attempt to manage such moments of tension; and considers their significance as practices contributing to the negotiation and shaping of social identities.

Culture, Theory and Critique, 2025

After the coup d'état of 1980, as a neoliberal regime was gradually established in Turkey, confession gained unprecedented power as a disciplinary technology. Several queer subjects created auto/ biographical texts and performances as they negotiated the gendered and sexualised politics of confessional citizenship. Ümit Oğuztan's documentary novel Kraliçe Sisi [Queen Sisi] (1991) was of exceptional significance. Oğuztan claimed to narrate the highend trans sex worker Seyhan Soylu's life and her sexual experiences with Turkey's elite. The author employed archival and ethnographic research methods and performative writing techniques to create a truth effect while preventing trouble with the law. By queering iconic figures, Kraliçe Sisi proposed an alternative perspective on the past and explored the possibility of a different future. This example of liberal pornography queered its readers by providing an opportunity for identification and empathy, and by producing non-normative sexual desires in and through their bodies. The accounts of the book's trans readers show how this notorious text performed a work of activism and changed lives. Rather than an unconditional investment in liberatory politics, however, Kraliçe Sisi harbours strong ambivalences and discriminatory discourses, revealing the diverse, at times unsettling forms queer literature and memory practices can take.