Turkish Theatre can be briefly studied in four sec tions:

An Actress in a Traditional Dress

Traditional Theatre:

Turks knew about puppet plays before settling in Anatolia. After their settlement, they have developed plays from the remnants of the fertility blessing rituals which are considered to be the major source of the world theatre and these plays are still played in villages. M eddah, puppet, fake wars, shadow play, juggler and ortaoyunu are the principal play types.

Reforms Period Theatre (1839 - 1908):

The Turkish community had been introduced to the western theatre in this period. The first step was the construction of the theatre buildings. Local and foreign oriented theatre communities were founded. The government had supported the theatre movements occurring under self control or private. Beside musicals and plays, “tuluat” theatres and “ortaoyunlari” which are not dependent on written texts have developed.

Constitutional Monarchy Period Theatre (1908 - 1923) :

Just after the declaration of 2nd Constitutional Monarchy, the number of the theatre associations have rapidly increased. The tendency to become actors spread among youth. The first important steps to train actors from schools were taken in this period and the first conservatoires named “ Dârulbedaii Osmani” were founded in 1914. Two years later, this conservatoire was transformed into a funded theatre community, therefore the foundations of modern Istanbul City Theatre Community was laid.

"Otogargara"

Turkish Theatre had exceeded the trial and research period and reached the period of creation and self issuance in this period. The theatre education by government, foundation of a government theatre, spreading of theatre throughout the country by community houses was executed during this period. Beside government theatres and operas and municipality theatres, private theatres were founded and developed. Theatres were constructed in the suburban areas of large cities, country cities and even in villages. Separate from wide spreading conservatories, academic theatre education was initiated in some universities.

We would be very pleased to arrange tickets for you for Turkish plays and theather festivals around Turkey like the International Istanbul Theatre Festival. This festival was first organized 14 years ago and we are going to have the next festival between the dates 18 May – 4 June 2006. Please feel free to contact our office if you would like any sort of assistance during your trip to Turkey for this festival...