Collective theater

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The collective theater (Turkish Birlik Tiyatrosu ) was the first theater in Turkey that was based on Brecht's Epic Theater . Under the direction of the founder, Vasif Öngören , the stage existed with interruptions from 1968 to 1982 in various locations, most recently as an exile theater in West Berlin .

history

The collective theater in Turkey

The collective theater (“ Birlik Tiyatrosu ”) was founded in 1968 in Turkey by Vasif Öngören, initially as a playgroup in Ankara . Öngören had previously studied theater studies in East Berlin in what was then the GDR and was an intern at the Berlin Brecht Ensemble .

The newly founded theater developed an “ anti-fascist program” and the theatrical work carried out there had “an essential part in the Brecht debate in Turkey” ( magazine for literary studies and linguistics ). In March 1971 a military junta came to power again in Turkey . a. Took repressive measures against the population. The collective theater was banned with immediate effect because of statements made on its stage and its founder and director was arrested. A court martial in Ankara sentenced Öngören "to six years and eight months in prison and two years' exile in eastern Anatolia".

A general amnesty made it possible to re-establish the theater in Istanbul in 1974 . This again took place under the direction of Öngörens; A well-known actress, Meral Taygun, was also involved . However, due to the internal political situation in Turkey , stagings were only possible for a few years.

In addition to plays by Bertolt Brecht, the collective theater also performed epic plays based on Brecht that Öngören wrote especially for his ensemble. This is how pieces like the most performed Asiye Nasıl Kurtulur came about? (1969) and Zengin Mutfağı (1977). Later, after the political situation in Turkey had changed again, some of them were successfully filmed in the 1980s.

The project “Kollektiv-Theater GmbH” in West Berlin

In 1977 Öngören went into exile for political reasons and went to what was then West Germany . In 1980 he founded the company "Kollektiv-Theater GmbH" in West Berlin and continued his theater work. The first performance in Berlin was Human Landscapes by Nazim Hikmet , later Öngören's own plays followed. The theater thus remained true to its anti-fascist line developed in Turkey and continued this with Öngören's own plays in particular. In addition, it saw itself from then on "as a workers' theater that should make a contribution to the emancipation of Turkish workers (in Germany) and to convey Turkish culture to Germans". Particular attention was paid to the staging of the play The Kitchen of the Rich , which took place on different evenings by a German-speaking and a Turkish-speaking ensemble.

Ultimately, the unsubsidized project, which also took part in a number of theater festivals , failed "for economic reasons".

Today the establishment of the "Kollektiv-Theater GmbH" is considered one of the "most professional attempts to establish Turkish theater in Berlin". The magazine Theater der Zeit even called it “one of the few but outstanding examples” of so-called “foreigners theater ” in Germany.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Journal for Literary Studies and Linguistics . Athenäum Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1984, p. 133.
  2. ↑ Aras Ören : Privatexil. Poems . Rotbuch Verlag , Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-88022-168-5 , p. 68.
  3. ↑ a b Sven Sappelt: Theater of the Migrants . In: Carmine Chiellino (Ed.): Intercultural Literature in Germany. A manual . Publishing house JB Metzler , Stuttgart u. a. 2007, ISBN 978-3-476-02185-4 , pp. 280ff.
  4. ^ Manfred Brauneck (project leader): Foreign theater in the Federal Republic of Germany and in West Berlin. 1. Working report on the research project “Popular Theater Culture” . Published by the University of Hamburg , Hamburg 1983, p. 103.
  5. ^ Theater of Time . Verlag Theater der Zeit, Berlin 2002, ISSN  0040-5418 , p. 16.