Continued.. http://interactive.m2.org/Theather/SSener.html ***TURKISH DRAMA Sevda Sener The Turkish theater developed rapidly during the Republican period. The romantic tendency of the previous years was followed by a new interest in European Realism and Naturalism. Playwright. like Halit Fahri Ozansoy (1891-1971), Vedat Nedim Tor (1897-1985), Cevdet Kudret (1907-1919), Nazim Hikmet Ran (1902-1963), Necip Fazil Kisakürek (1905-1983), Resat Nuri Guntekin (1889-1956) dealt with social and psychological problems in intense domestic conflicts. The social and individual downfall was explained by the superficiality of cultural modernization with its economic causes and ethical results. In these plays family relationships are destroyed either because of the craze of Westernization which tended to change the accustomed way of life, or because of the domination of materialistic tendency over humanistic considerations after the First World War. The loss of traditional moral values, political conflicts, snobbishness, bigotry and decomposition of traditional and modern habit of living become topical themes for writers in the thirties and the forties, providing them with impressive dramatic situations. Resat Nuri Guntekin who was also a well-known novelist, reflected the circumstances that required wise decisions from the characters who could not adjust themselves to this rapid social change and fail to make the right decision in critical situations. His most representative play Falling Leaves presents the sad story of a nonconformist father who stubbornly refuses to accept the inevitability of social change yet could not protect his children from the modernization craze and in a way is responsible for their downfall. >From fifties on, the contrast of traditional and modern ways of living become a topical theme for playwrights providing them with dramatic situations easy to handle both in tragic and comic terms. As the newly rich class gained power in society, the moral values of the old middle class had to give way to the aspirations of the new generations. Cevat Fehmi Baskurt (1908-1971), playwright and newspaper man, presented the problems of the traditionally respected members of bureaucratic society who had to try hard to keep their accustomed level of living in the face of economic crises. Since he presented the topical social and political problems from the point of generally accepted interpretation, he became the most popular playwright of the time. On the other hand, a similar problem is treated in a very subtle way by Ahmet Kutsi Tecer (1901-1967) in his plays of Turkish drama. In this play, the change in social conditions, the universal cycle of life from birth to death and the circulation of the planets are dealt in correspondence rendering the subject a universal significance. Turkish dramatic writing flourished at the sixties and the seventies. After the declaration of a more liberal Constitution in 1960 writers were freer to deal with social problems extensively. Along with the new plays of the writers themes, new characters, new types are introduced to drama. Although the playwrights depended mostly on realistic observations, deeper causes of social and individual problems are detected and writers avoided easy interpretations. A new generation of playwrights brought vigor to the stage. Domestic drama was still the most favorite kind. Comedies tended to staire. Socially oriented domestic conflicts were no longer interpreted from the viewpoint of the traditional conception of social harmony. On the contrary playwrights like Sabahattin Kudret Aksal, Melih Cevdet Anday, Oktay Rifat, Haldun Taner, Refik Erduran, Haldun Taner, Cetin Altan, Turgut Ozakman, Orhan Asena, Necati Cumali, Adalet Agaoglu, Aziz Nesin seemed to have undertaken the task of illuminating the public about false balances that used to conceal the essential contradictions. The struggle of the individual who tries hard to retain his self respect in a corrupted society meant to create a new consciousness in spectators about the social problems. The Main theme was the poverty and social insecurity of the economically oppressed classes. The social order was held responsible for the oppression and social abuse. Problems of people living in suburbs and poor villages were brought to stage with obvious allusions to the economic order that was supposed to be the cause of misery of people. Certain distrust was also discernible towards intellectuals who were blamed of irresponsibility and selfishness. Family relationships that have come to the point of breakdown under the pressures of social conditions and psychological crises experienced in such crucial times, rendered depth to the plays written by contemporary writers. Character portraits began to take the plays of stereotypes of earlier plays. Melih Cevdet Anday (b. 1915) in his play Those Within, dwelled on the psychological breakdown of a prisoner who, being kept in seclusion for many days, is so obsessed by his sexual instincts that the loses all his sense of morality until he comes to contact with other people and is able to control himself. Lotto, by Adalet Agaoglu (b. 1929) dealt with frustration of an old couple who pass the last days of their lives eating, quarreling, playing lottery and above all waiting for their grown up children to visit them. The bitter sensation of futility dominates the atmosphere of the play. Oktay Rifat’s (1914-1988) Discomfort Preceeding Rain also deals with the psychological breakdown of a woman who has to face the cruelty of her husband and the infidelity of her lover. A similar depression experienced by a woman under the oppression of a conservative social circle ends in catastrophe in Necati Cumali’s (b. 1921) play Mine. Turgut Ozakman, (b. 1930) one of the most successful playwrights of Turkish theater, presented the problems in family relationships in a milder but more effective way in his very well build play Fireplace. The Bicycle of Cengiz Khan by Refik Erduran (b. 1928) has a unique place in a Turkish drama because of its humanitarian and humorous approach to family life. Haldun Taner (1915-1986) the foremost notable playwright of Turkish theater dealt with neighborhood relationships as well as domestic affairs in his play Pharmacy of Goodwill in a very subtle way. Mythological and historical material was also brought to stage dramatized to suit the requirements of the stage. Selahattin Batu’s (1905-1973) Fair Helen is a typical example of the humanistic tendency prevailing in Turkish drama in the fifties. In this play Menelaus, Fair Helen's husband and his fellow commanders and soldiers, who have sailed to Troy to bring Helen back are so involved in making war and shedding blood that they forget their former legitimate aim. Helen, who represent truth and beauty is disappointed. She refuses to join her countrymen and stays at Troy to soothe the pains of the defeated. Gungor Dilmen's (b. 1930) Sacrifice is a modern version of Medea. In this play a village woman, refusing to yield her husband's wish to bring a second wife into her house, as used to be a common practice in provincial towns although strictly forbidden by law, kills her children and herself. This play excels in poetic diction and tragic mode. Stories of mythical figures like Gilgamesh and Midas the King were also dramatized from a contemporary point of view. The court life of Ottoman period also provided convenient material for spectacular productions because of the rich and colorful costumes of courtly people and splendid court decorations. In addition to the glamour of spectacle, the imposing gestures and bombastic speech of Ottoman Emperors, intrigues of ambitious Sultans appealed to the popular interest. In historical place of Orhan Asena (b. 1922) and Turan Oflazoglu (b. 1932) the rulers are presented as complex characters with psychological problems. While Oflazoglu was making a detailed character portrait of one of the most prominent of Ottoman Sultans in his play IV. Murat IV, Orhan Asena dealt with historical material with contemporary allusions and dwelled on contemporary political figures like Allende in his trilogy on Chili's political conflicts. Plays dealing with lives of rural people came into vogue in the sixties. Peasant costumes and house designs provided rich spectacular material. Local dialect rendered these plays a special flavor. Comical and melodramatic effects could easily be produced by exaggeration in a medium which was beyond the actual observation of spectators. Cahit Atay (b. 1925) is the forerunner of this trend and he dealt with the problems of village people in a semi-serious way in his plays like his one acter The Ambush. Yasar Kemal’s (b. 1922) Tin, Necati Cumali's (b.1921) The Clogs, and Rainless Summer, Recep Bilginer's (b. 1922) Rebels, Hidayet Sayin's (b. 1929) The Woman Called Pembe presented domestic, territorial and administrative problems. Daily lives of people living in shanty towns and the difficulties they have to confront are reflected in plays like Haldun Taner's The Ballad of Ali of Kesan, Oktay Rifat's Spotted Cock, Orhan Asena's The Girl Called Fadik , Dincer Sumer's (b. 1938) The Impasse Called Katip, Ulker Koksal's (b. 1931) No Way Out, Cahit Atay's Gultepe Plays. Politically committed writers dwelled on social insecurity and poverty of lower classes. Problems of people living in shanties and villages were brought to attention with an obvious allusion to economic order which is severely criticized. Sermet Cagan's (1929-1970) Factory of Orthopedic Feet and Legs is a typical example of politically committed theater of the sixties. In this play all the poor inhabitants of a village become crippled because they have to eat to wheat seed which had been chemically treated in order to be preserved for the following year's crop. Soon a factory, supported by foreign capital is built there to produce orthopedic feet and legs for crippled people who ironically feel grateful. Orhan Kemal’s (1914-1970) Prison Ward and Murtaza, Hasmet Zeybek's (b. 1938) Incident of Alpagut, Basar Sabuncu's (b. 1943) Realty Tax displayed the frustration of the people living in poor houses, kept in prisons, working in mines and factories displayed the maladministration of social institutions and social injustice in general. Sufferings of women under the pressure of traditional customs have been brought to stage from the very beginning. The place of women writers like Adalet Agaoglu, Ulker Koksal, Nezihe Araz (b. 1922) shed a new light on the question and displayed the feminine point of view on the subject. An increasing interest was observed in political questions in the sixties and the seventies. The influence of European political drama was obvious. Bertolt Brecht's conception of epic theater and its practice was accepted as the only valid approach to social matters in theatrical medium. The similarity between the episodic structure of the epic theater and the open and presentational form of the traditional spectacular place was brought to attention by the critics. The most noteworthy play of epic trend in Turkish drama is Vasif Ongoren's (1938-1984) How can Asiye be Saved. In this play, life story of a poor girl who tries to escape her inevitable end in vain is presented in episodes, connected by a narrator, who as a representative of middle class women, makes her own comment upon the facts. Some playwrights expressed their opinion about the social matters on the safe ground of history. In Erol Toy's (b. 1938) Pir Sultan Abdal, Mehmet Akan's (b. 1938) Sheik Bedrettin, Orhan Asena's Atcali Kel Mehmet, the famous folk heroes and their deeds were meant to be the right models for present expectation of heroic action. New writers like Oktay Arayici (1936-1985), Kerim Korcan (b. 1918), Erol Toy (b. 1936), Bilgesu Erenus (b.1943), Hasmet Zeybek (b.1948), Ismet Kuntay (1923-1974) also contributed to the provocative political atmosphere of the time by their plays. Some private companies staged documentary plays written in collaboration of their own members in the same mode. This brief survey of the development of contemporary Turkish drama shows that the majority of the plays are realistic dramas focusing on moral, social or political issues; playwrights usually avoid modern trends. Only a few writers dared to express the complexities of human reality in abstract compositions. Some of the plays of the famous satirist Aziz Nesin (1915-1995), Melih Cevdet Anday, Adalet Agaoglu, Yildirim Keskin (b. 1922), Behcet Necatigil (1916-1979), Aydin Arit (b. 1928), and Sabahattin Kudret Aksal can be around....................... Humor tending to satire has always been one of the essential characteristics of Turkish drama. The earnestness which prevails in the atmosphere of the modern plays mingles with humor to produce a bitter sensation in the spectator. Oguz Atay (1934-1979) a well known novelist, made a brilliant debut with his play Those Who Play to Live is one of the best examples of such a combination. xxxx The most conspicuous achievement of Contemporary Turkish dramatic writing and production have been the conscious effort to create original native drama by making use of the formal and stylistic elements of traditional spectacular plays in a way to satisfy modern taste and contemporary intellectual needs. The main challenge to such an attempt is to preserve critical sensitivity and to discriminate between the easy attraction of the spectacular and the pleasure of witnessing the true combination of form and content. Since the native spectacular plays much depended on improvisation, only the outlines of the plots have been handed to the present time and they are very poor examples of its original material. This impoverished kind of theatrical tradition needs creative impulse to be revived and adapted to the modern stage. Playwrights like Haldun Taner, Turgut Ozakman, Oktay Arayici succeeded in making use of the formal characteristics of traditional spectacular plays. A colorful portrayal of social life at a given period is the main characteristic of those plays. The detailed picture of everyday life of a neighborhood reflects a cross section of society in general. Various types of character represent the main social groups, classes, professions. Their attire, diction and attitude towards life are typical of the groups they belong. This rich range of the chromatic scale of various types reflect an overall picture of everyday relationships and create a spectacular harmony. The plots of such plays are episodic. Even when they are molded into a dramatic structure, the organic chain of events are of secondary importance. The cross-section of life with its inner dynamics and significant situations have taken place of the classical development of action. Usually narration contributes to the story. Narrative passages are appreciated for their poetical expression or humorous content. In modern practice, narration is used as a means of critical approach to life as well. The loose structure and the fragmentary plot of the text and anti-illusionistic style of acting are suited well to the aspirations of politically-tended authors as well. The Ballad of Ali of Keshan, The Shrewd Wife of the Stupid Husband, I Close My Eyes and Do My Duty, Shadow of the Donkey, Carnival under Moonlight by Haldun Taner, The House of Fehim Pasha, Illustirated Ottoman History, A Sehnaz Play by Turgut Ozakman, Fire at Aksaray by Gungor Dilmen, Bear Story by Refik Erduran, The Catchword Rosebud and The Vain World by Oktay Arayici, Guest by Bilgesu Erenus are the most successful examples of this promising trend in Turkish drama. >From the eighties on, a stagnation is discernible in Turkish drama. Along with the new plays of the wrigters of former generation, Tuncer Cucenoglu (b.1944) who dwells on social responsibilities of the individuals and on administrative problems, Murathan Mungan (b. 1955) who draws his material from South Eastern myths and facts and captures the tragic mood which is expressed in poetic diction in his outstanding trylogy Mahmut and Yezida, Taziye, Deers and Curses and Mehmet Baydur (b. 1951) who outranges with his shrewdness of dialogue and cleverly chosen dramatic situations in his plays like Lemon,Orchids in the Leftovers of Fire, The Girl of Republic, Sitation of Women are most notable writers of the time. -- Mine Aysen Doyran PhD Student Department of Political Science SUNY at Albany Nelson A. 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