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Intercultural Theatre? A Streetcar Named Desire on the Turkish Stage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2008

PÜRNUR UÇAR ÖZBIRINCI
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Abstract

The controversial theory of intercultural performance covers a wide range of theatrical practices, which intend to adapt subject matter and situations from one culture to another. This intention mainly involves a transportation and translation of elements and perspectives across cultures. The translator, the audience or reader, and the director fill in the gaps that are formed during this transportation and translation with their own interpretations, in accordance with the culture they inhabit. However, intercultural performance requires conscious attempts to merge two different cultures. Such attempts should not be done solely for the ‘target’ culture's audience but should also regard the perceptions of the ‘source’ culture as much as possible. In light of this, Turkish State Theatre's director Ferdi Merter's production of A Streetcar Named Desire is analysed in order to locate the distinct changes the Turkish interpretation of the play has incorporated.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Research International , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 70 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 2008

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References

NOTES

1 Bozkurt Kuruc, personal interview, 3 May 2002.

2 Ley, Graham, From Mimesis to Interculturalism: Readings of Theatrical Theory Before and After ‘Modernism’ (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1999), p. 277Google Scholar.

3 Ibid., p. 277.

4 Pavis, Patrice, The Intercultural Performance Reader (New York: Routledge, 1996), p. 2Google Scholar.

5 The cast in this production were Tulay Gunal, Blanche DuBois; Meltem Eserol, Stella Kowalski; Yavuz Koken, Stanley Kowalski; Hüseyin Soysalan, Mitch; and Füsun Akay, Eunice.

6 Ferdi Merter, personal interview, 4 May 2002.

7 Merter, Ferdi, Directors’ Handwritten Notes (Ankara: Devlet Tiyatroları, 2000)Google Scholar.

8 Ibid., p. NN.

9 Aysegul Yuksel, ‘Arzu Tramvayı’nın Son Durağı’, Cumhuriyet Kültür, 3 April 2001, p. B2.

10 Merter, Directors’ Notes.

11 Merter, personal interview, 13 October 2001.

12 Kolin, Philip C., Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p. 163Google Scholar.

13 Yuksel, ‘Arzu Tramvayı’nın Son Durağı’, p. B2.

14 Sevda Sener, ‘Williams'ın Demir Leblebisi’, Radikal Online, http://www.radikal.com.tr/diger/ekler/radikal2/2001/03/04/sanat/01wil.html, 28 November 2001.

15 Merter, Directors’ Notes.

16 Kolin, Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire, p. 152.

17 Merter, personal interview, 4 May 2002.

18 Merter, personal interview, 13 October 2001.

19 Merter, personal interview, 4 May 2002.

20 Merter, personal interview, 13 October 2001.

21 Yuksel, ‘Arzu Tramvayı’nın Son Durağı’, p. B2.

22 Sener, ‘Williams'ın Demir Leblebisi’.

23 Merter, personal interview, 4 May 2002.

24 Williams, Tennessee, Sweet Bird of Youth, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie (New York: Penguin Books, 1959), p. 222Google Scholar.

25 Merter, personal interview, 4 May 2002.

26 Merter, personal interview, 13 October 2001.

27 Merter, personal interview, 4 May 2002.

28 Hanna Scolnicov and Peter Holland, eds., The Play out of Context: Transferring Plays from Culture to Culture (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 173.

29 Merter, personal interview, 4 May 2002.

30 Barba, Eugenio, ‘Cultural Identity and Professional Identity’, in Hastrup, Kirsten, ed., The Performers’ Village: Times, Techniques and Theories at ISTA (Graasten: Drama, 1996), pp. 28–31, here p. 28Google Scholar.

31 Nutku, Özdemir, Atatürk ve Cumhuriyet Tiyatrosu (Istanbul: Özgür Yayınları, 1999), p. 12Google Scholar.