The 30th Istanbul Theatre Festival, organised by İKSV and curated by Mehmet Birkiye, opened on 22 October and runs until 3 December. This year the festival focuses on the bond between literature and the performing arts, with a selection that reinterprets classic and contemporary literary works from today’s perspective.
“Elizabeth Costello”, adapted and directed by Saim Güveloğlu from J. M. Coetzee’s novel and featuring Tansu Biçer, Tülin Özen, Defne Koldaş and Sezer Arıçay, will be staged at Paribu Art on 4–5 November. “Requiem”, written and directed by Dmitry Krymov, which weaves references from Haruki Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore” to Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” into today’s stories of war and loss, follows on 11–12 November at the Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage.
Suzie Miller’s “Anna K.”, which reimagines Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” in the age of social media, plays Alan Kadıköy on 18–19 November. The festival closes on 3 December with the premiere of “Dorian Gray’in Portresi”, Kerem Kurdoğlu and Mehmet Birkiye’s free reworking of Oscar Wilde’s novel, at Zorlu PSM’s Turkcell Platinum Stage.
As part of Festival Plus, a Book Club led by Eylül Görmüş discusses the source texts of three of the adaptations, Murat Gülsoy’s “Ve Ateş Bizi Tüketiyor”, Coetzee’s “Elizabeth Costello” and Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, on 2, 9 and 30 November at Fiba Salon İKSV.
Date and Venue
- Elizabeth Costello: 4–5 November, Paribu Art
- Requiem: 11–12 November, Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage
- Anna K.: 18–19 November, Alan Kadıköy
- Dorian Gray’in Portresi (closing): 3 December, Zorlu PSM Turkcell Platinum Stage
- Book Club: 2, 9 and 30 November, Fiba Salon İKSV
