Istanbul to host major theater festival in May

ISTANBUL

Theater-lovers will enjoy 32 international and local performances as part of the 20th Istanbul Theatre Festival, organizers said Tuesday.

This year’s festival, which will be held between May 3 and 28, will host nine international and 23 local performances, said festival director Leman Yilmaz speaking at a news conference in Istanbul.

“The 20th International Theater Festival included in its program this year very important international productions from Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Canada, the U.K., Switzerland, Iran and Portugal as well as 23 national productions,” Yilmaz said.

She said that this year’s festival would also feature 18 side events including master classes and workshops with the participation of well-known guests and exhibitions plus free talks.

During Tuesday’s event Turkish actor Metin Akpinar, who is the founding partner of Turkey’s first cabaret theater Devekusu (1967) and Turkish actress Sahika Tekand, who developed her own acting method -- ‘Performative Staging and Acting’ -- received this year’s honorary awards.

Organizers also said that the Berliner Ensemble, the theater company founded by Marxist playwright Bertolt Brecht, would receive its award in May.

Some of the highlights of this year’s program are The Kindly Ones, a co-production with Toneelgroep Amsterdam (Dutch with Turkish subtitles); Secret Face (English with Turkish subtitles); Hate Radio (French and Kinyarwanda with Turkish subtitles);Ham Havayi (Persian with Turkish subtitles); Zululuzu (English, French and Portuguese with Turkish subtitles); The Complete Deaths (English with Turkish subtitles); The Crows (Kurdish and English with Turkish subtitles); and The Bastard of Istanbul (Turkish with English subtitles).

As the festival marks its 20th year, 2016 also will see a publication of a special book, which contains information on all local and international productions performed during all editions of the festival.