Ayşın Candan: Theatre and Modernity. From the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic, Wien: Hollitzer Verlag, 2024 (Ottomania 13), 172 S., 17 x 24 cm, English, Hardcover
ISBN 978-3-99094-137-9 (hbk) € 45,00
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Theatre and Modernity
From the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic
This study aims to disclose the inner dynamics of the rich and diverse milieu within the Ottoman-Turkish society that created its unique hybrid forms through the scenic arts against an understanding of modernity in terms of a simple import or imitation of Western cultural forms. In the 19th century Armenians pioneered this process with melodramas, necessitating the presence of female performers on the stage; Armenian women thus went onstage with patriotic motives. Among the two leading figures of the Turkish Republic period are Nazim Hikmet, the most prolific but severely censured Turkish dramatist and Muhsin Ertugrul, who founded the subsidised theatres of Ankara and Istanbul. A later phase of modernisation arrives in the sixties with a social awakening towards the conditions of the rural society: Ankara becomes the seat of “popular” theatre after the founding of Ankara Art Theatre, in 1961. Mehmet Ulusoy’s work in France in the 1970–1980s crowns the final synthesis.
INHALT
INTRODUCTION
MODERNITY
THE OTTOMANS AND THE HISTORY OF TURKS
THEATRE DURING THE OTTOMAN ERA
The Fruits of Tanzimat: Period of Reform
The Young Ottomans
Ottoman Society During the Constitutional Monarchy
ARMENIAN WOMEN’S MOVEMENT FROM TANZIMAT TO
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY
MELODRAMA
THE HISTORICAL EMERGENCE OF MELODRAMA
The Evolution of Melodrama
Pixérécourt: from Decadence to Revolutionary Morality
Structural Traits of Melodrama
Evolution of the Plot and Characters
An Example: The Two Orphans
ALLEGORY
MELODRAMAS AND MODERNITY
Tanzimat and the Melodramas
THE ARMENIAN MILLET
Armenian Modernisation
Early Theatrical Performances by Armenians
FURTHER WESTERN INFLUENCES
European Troupes
The Pashas and The Schools
THE FIRST THEATRE COMPANIES
AND THE PROGRESSIVE STAGING OF MELODRAMAS
THEATRE AUDIENCE AND ETIQUETTE
Golden Age of Melodrama
MELODRAMATIC ACTING
REPERTOIRE
Victor Hugo on the Ottoman Stage
Early Ottoman Drama Inspired by French Theatre
Namik Kemal
Semseddin Sami
Ahmet Mithat Efendi
An Example: Vatan yahut Silistre (Motherland or Silistria)
Women Onstage
Mari Nivart
Azniv Hrachia
Siranoush
As Melodramas take leave of the stage
REVOLUTION AND THE AVANT-GARDE
EXPRESSIONISM
German Expressionism
The Expressionist Stage and the First Plays
An Example: Bir Adam Yaratmak (Creating a Man)
A Young Turkish Actor in Berlin
Expressionist Drama
Expressionist Acting
The Phases of Expressionism
Directing and Design
After the Expressionist Movement
Tracing the Inf luence of Expressionism in Turkey: Muhsin Ertugrul
The Adventure of Muhsin Ertugrul Determining the Fate of Turkish Theatre
And the Cinema
THE MEETING OF TWO REMARKABLE CREATORS
An Example: Kafatasi (The Skull)
Nazim Hikmet and Theatre
A Seminal Force: Meyerhold
Meyerhold and Nazim Hikmet
Nazim Hikmet’s Plays on Stage
Experimentation
Mehmet Ulusoy and Nazim Hikmet
