Turkish theatre refers to

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

activities in Turkey that emerged as a unique and complex blend of theater traditions in the country and Western influences. There are four major theatrical traditions that had greatly influenced each other: popular theater, court theater, and Western theater.

Theatre traditions

Folk theater

The dramatic art has existed among the Turks for thousands of years. There are different views on the origins. According to some scholars it developed from humanistic ritual practiced in the

Ural-Altaic Ural-Altaic, Uralo-Altaic or Uraltaic is a linguistic convergence zone and former language-family proposal uniting the Uralic and the Altaic (in the narrow sense) languages. It is generally now agreed that even the Altaic languages do not share ...

region, whereas others argue that the Turkish folk theater is related with the folklore of the early Anatolian civilizations like Phrygia or

Hitite The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centr ...

civilizations. No matter what the origins are, the folk theater has survived for centuries among the thousands of villages scattered throughout the countryside. It largely consists of folk dramas performed by the villagers themselves during the family ceremonies or during the agriculture cycle. They are accompanied by pantomime, dances, and puppet performances.

Popular theater

Karagöz_and_Hacivat_-_Karagöz_and_Hacivat

Popular theater are performances presented to the public in places like public squares, coffee houses or private homes by the storytellers, puppeteers or live actors. The performers belong to different guilds and societies, called “kol” or “cemaat”. Storytellers are called “ meddah”. They tell either popular romances, national legends, religious narration or pseudo-historical romances. Shadow theater is a form of theater where cut-out figures silhouetted against a lighted screen. It is known as Karagöz and was the most widespread form of popular theater in Turkey. Ortaoyunu (Middle show) is The Turkish comedia dell'arte performed in urband areas pastime for the middle classes.

Court theater

In Turkey, until the Westernized period, court theater simply imitated popular theater, formed in a more refined and literary manner. The performers of ocourt theater did non perform only for the aristocracy at the palaces; they performed at public festivites organized on the occasions such as a court marriage, the birth of a new prince or his circumcision, the triumph in a war ,accession of a new ruler.

Western theater tradition

The westernization in Turkey started with vast plan of reforms in 1839, which proved favorable for the development of the Western theatrical tradition in Turkey. The fusion of Western and Turkish dramatic forms were accomplished largely through the efforts of Armenian middlemen. Agop Vartovyan ( Güllü Agop), who headed the Ottoman Theater Company in Istanbul from 1867 to 1882, was one of the most important figures. In 1870, Güllü Agop was granted a ten-year patent of monopoly for producing legitimate drama in the Turkish language at Istanbul. As a result, other producers were encouraged to start theaters in the provinces. Turkish statesmen like

Ziya Pasha Ziya Pasha, the pseudonym of Abdul Hamid Ziyaeddin (1829, Constantinople – 17 May 1880, Adana), was an Ottoman writer, translator and administrator. He was one of the most important authors during the Tanzimat period of the Ottoman Empire, alo ...

and

Ahmed Vefik Paşa Ahmed Vefik Pasha ( ota, احمد وفیق پاشا ) (3 July 1823 2 April 1891) was an Ottoman statesman, diplomat, scholar, playwright, and translator during the Tanzimat and First Constitutional Era periods. He was commissioned with top-rank ...

were among those pioneers who started theater companies in provinces. 15 years following the 1908 revolution was a period where many new theaters opened. Theater was regarded an ideal instrument for strengthening civilian and military morale as the country goes into one war after another including

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

, Balkan Wars, and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, the new government regarded the theater as an essential element for modernization of the country. A state theatre company was estabished in 1949. It is supported by both government funds and ticket sales. By 2023, the State Theaters performed on stages at 12 provinces.

References

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...