Backstage of the game I wrote.
"Night of Respect and Support to Master Harpagon". November 26, 2010.
The actors are preparing for the gala.
Dear Özden Çiftçi, Umut Demirdelen and ŞahinÇelik in accordance with their characters. I tried to picture it. After finishing the picture my signature in front of the mirror I threw it on the business card I had attached between the violets.
those violets; with whom we lived that process together, who did not spare their efforts, to my friends with whom we shared a lifetime of professional life and invaluable memories, and to the heavenly souls of our Umut and our wigmaker İlhan Erem.
CivanCanova
The "Curfew" takes place in a 'dream' country. It tells the tragicomic story of people who had never known each other before, who came together casually in the lobby of an ordinary hotel in an ordinary city.
The curfew continues. There are no names of role players. They are referred to by the room numbers in the hotel. In an environment where various kinds of oppression prevails and people are de-identified, they are in an effort to establish an order for themselves, albeit temporarily. The "order" they create cannot go beyond being just a little bit like or an extension of what is already out there. They are torn between dream and reality. They become more lonely, more unresponsive, more impassive, more accepted.
In this case, even if their location is a hotel lobby, it is inevitable that a new 'Head' will emerge with the title of 'Baskıcı Erk'.
When I watched the Men's Restroom on stage, I said, 'I wonder if his Endazis got a little too far off'. I hesitated because I used too much slang. But the subtext is important to me. I especially chose that such degenerated relationships based on ego, lies and interests can only be explained in this language.
I wanted to approach the so-called contemporary order in an absurd way, by taking shelter in metaphors and with a comedy style.
I chose to choose the names of the characters in a way that suits this style. All of the people involved in that gambling environment (or power struggle) are a playing card (or individual) of that casino (or system). I thought their names should match their roles. Is it too complicated?
The Poisonous Water of the Aquarium
Sibel Arslan Green Crescent
We are in the lobby of a hotel. We watch the relationships between customers, strange and ridiculous situations, affected by a curfew of uncertain reason. Thanks to the mirrored windows on the outer surface, while the inside can easily see what is happening outside, the inside is not visible from the outside. Thanks to the commentary that also includes the audience in the hotel, we see the fighting-noise in the outside world, those who write on the wall, those who are beaten by the police from the seats we sit. But the main things to see are the 'insiders'. Hotel customers offer human views from our country. Whether you are afraid of his shadow, whether he sees himself the right to enter the movie star's room because he is a director, whether you are looking for his life to be indexed to military victories, does he never react to what is happening and focus on solving puzzles ... There are samples of all kinds of people in this hotel.
“Curfew”, written by Civan Canova, is in front of us with the direction of Arif Akkaya, this time as a City Theater production after it was staged in Izmit City Theaters last season. Cüneyt Çalışkur made an absurd interpretation to the text during the staging in İzmit. The political dimension is more pronounced in Arif Akkaya's interpretation.
Mr. 302, the person who does not leave the lobby of the hotel where the persons are mentioned by their room numbers and interprets the events in a mocking manner, is Mr. Reception's reason for existence, to execute all orders. The manager of the hotel is busy imposing some absurd prohibitions according to the mood at the moment. Each individual takes a stand against prohibitions according to his / her own identity. However, on the other hand, they are perceived as a very normal situation and obey the prohibitions without question.
In Zuhal Soy's stage design, we see the hotel's lobby and other rooms at the same time. The place is a little too dim. Resembling the old puppets in the Muppet Show, Mr. and Mrs. 555 are constantly solving puzzles in the red velvet covered loggia in the left corner of the stage. Dramaturgy of the play Arzu Işıtman was played by Kahraman Ace- han, Bercis Fesci, Cengiz Keskinkılıç, Turgut Arseven, Mehmet Bulduk, Hüsnü Demiralay, Ergun Üğlü, Sema Keçik, Yavuz Şeker, Süleyman Balçın, Uğurtan Atakan, Adnan Altay, Sevil Uluyol and İlhan Kilimci plays the role. "Curfew" is a production that tragicomically deals with the lack of communication between individuals who have been imprisoned for a certain period of time in a closed space and can be easily watched with its staging and acting.
Radikal, 3.12.1999
INTERVIEW WITH THE THEATER
WE THE THEATER: How can an actor be described, how does he play?
CİVAN CANOVA: He tells the lie as if it were real, believing that the sincerity of the actor is very important here. The rest comes when there is intimacy anyway. One of the sine qua non must be education, the education taken at this school may be the other, something debatable, but the actor needs to educate himself. He needs to train his technique, he needs to train his equipment. On the stage, everything ends in education, it ends in sincerity. Of course, years are very important. Every emotion has its counterpart in your heart. When you read the pain, if you have experienced similar pain, experience adds something to you, your interpretation depends on it. You do not need to spoil your voice, the structure of your body, besides, it is already distorted. Therefore, when you add emotion into it, when this experience is happening, much better sharing happens in your heart, I find it beautiful and I write for it. I find it sincere. Because I don't have to give a message. I write what I think.
WE THE THEATER: What was your starting point when writing this play?
CİVAN CANOVA: The first starting point in the game is the search for a different place. In the theater, we always see the same places on four walls, on the frame stage. Why not use another place where the incident takes place, where a part of the event is reflected, such as the toilet? There was suddenly the idea of writing a place where something was shared with dialogues and a play in which that actual event took place outside. I started thinking if I could write something different in 2000 and then gradually developed the game in my mind. It has come as far as order inquiry, system inquiry, relationship inquiry. The things that I had in my mind such as the human ego, power, questioning of sexuality settled into the game. I don't know how successful it was.
WE THE THEATER: As for the dialogues in the play, are they spoken in the men's room?
CİVAN CANOVA: No, they are symbolic, very
a stylized thing, and even now as a viewer, I wondered if it was a little too much? I hesitated whether it was too much. But I don't know. I had no bad intentions, I am innocent. Sub texts are important to me. I thought that these relationships can only be explained in this language. Relationships that are degenerated in this way, based on this much ego, completely selfishness, I have chosen specifically because they can only be explained in this language.
THEATER.BIZ: There are no names of the characters in the game. Each of them has a nickname. It doesn't matter if these are Ahmet or Mehmet, are they just part of the corrupt order you question, ordinary people we meet every day?
CİVAN CANOVA: I guess I didn't want to localize the game with names like Ahmet and Mehmet. I did not describe an incident that took place in our country. I wanted to approach an order that we call modern, but based on lies and interest, in an absurd and comedy style. For this reason, I chose to choose the names in a way that suits the style. Native names or foreign names might not fit the world I want to establish, and they could have different connotations.
WE THE THEATER: Although the scene changes in the game, the characters and some dialogues do not change at all. The connotation this made to me was that the order being questioned actually always creates the same type of person. Why is this your choice?
CİVAN CANOVA: People and places differ as much as they want, nothing changes as long as the conditions remain the same. Similar sentences are spoken. The same stalls are set up and the same goals are achieved. As you said, I wanted to explain this.
THEATER.BIZ: Some of the names of the characters are chosen from the playing cards. Is it gambling to survive in this corrupt order, or is it just the ruler of power?
Are those who risk winning at all costs in the power struggle / gambling?
CİVAN CANOVA: All of the people who take part in that gambling environment (or power struggle) are playing cards (or individuals) of that casino (or system). I thought their names should match their roles. Is it too complicated?
THEATER.BE: Even if the scene changes, the characters create recycling in the audience by making reminders of the previous scene. Changes in characters are always bad! Is this a reflection of your belief that the order we live in is irrecoverable? Are you pessimistic about this?
CİVAN CANOVA: Let's not say that the characters are going bad. There is not a completely bad character either. They can be considered good even according to the size of such a system. I don't think they're repulsive for the audience either. Maybe it will be an absurd example, but; If human flesh has been eaten in a tribe for centuries, we cannot call it a bad man for the tribal butcher who smashed it into pieces. There are five separate episodes and they all end with a similar finale. After all, there is no winner. Of course, this is not a divine judgment. I do not want to give a definite message that 'there is no winner in such a system'. I think this is wrong ... It is like honey, the winners and they continue their existence, their beliefs, their value judgments and their order. I just wanted to say that the concept of "winning" and the "drive to win" should not be like this in my eyes. Another
I used pornographic language, which I do not use in any of my plays, because I deem it worthy of those who take on those roles - it must be because I have put them down a bit. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a problem like making a premium with erotic sentences. I didn't paint an erotic painting, after all. I rubbed whatever I assumed to be in that environment. Partly mud, partly dirt, dust, soil ...
WE THE THEATER: The name chosen for the female character is quite interesting. Bonus. In this tangle of dirty relationships, is women's only function to be a bonus? As an accessory or a prize in the world of mercenary but dirty men!
CİVAN CANOVA: That world, as you said, is the world of men. Moreover, the world of malevolent and selfish men! So they determine the roles and the names. An unconscious and vulnerable woman is a 'bonus' for a malevolent man. Also consider the opposite. An unconscious and vulnerable man is, at best, 'in need of care', even for the most abusive woman. That's the difference! King Kong Jr. even when she gets her share of femininity, she gets emotional, putting her personal powers in the second plan. His view of life is changing. But since I wanted to write a funny play and have fun while writing, I explained it in comedy. But in my opinion, women ruled the world, nobody would have any 'bonus'. And there would be no need for such a name. There would be less exploitation, less nonsense, so there wouldn't be any ridiculous play about men's toilet. I am a man, but I cannot say that I love my fellows who have ruled our world for centuries.
THEATER WE: As a professional theater actor and writer, about amateur-professional theaters
What do you think?
CİVAN CANOVA: I do not accept such a thing as amateur-professional. I still consider myself an amateur. I am eating my bread and earning money from this business. This is my way of life, theater, artistry, even if you do not get any financial support from someone, I think it is something you have to do like bread and water, something that is necessary by your own creation. I do it for him, I do not do it to satisfy me. That is why I think it is necessary to support them to the end, whether they are amateur artists, new graduates or our friends who are studying. Theater is a whole, it is a part of a whole. I may not like vaudeville theater, but I can never deny it. Because it is a part of the whole theater. All of our masters were trained from amateur theater. The people who educated us and my father were first brought up from community centers. Most of all artists also started with an amateur spirit and I wish that spirit continued. Our teacher, my father, Mahir Canova - who is one of the first graduates of the concert - the late Sadi Canar, Muazzez Kurdoğlu, Melek Ökte, Nüzhet Şenbay, and later on, Cüneyt Bey and Nermin Sarova are from my father's time again. Not even ten fingers, but when you look at people who founded the first theater in Turkey.
WE THE THEATER: Should there be state support for theaters?
CİVAN CANOVA: If the state has power, why not? Theaters are getting help from the municipalities in England as well. Each town and city has its own private theaters in Germany, England, France. All of these are paid theaters. The municipality takes care of some, and the state supports others. But why? Art is a part of their culture men! He thinks of it as if he is doing a school or an academy. Like a university, he gives his people his money and support to the theater in return for culture. In other words, it is no different from food aid. Of course, I think he should help as much as he can. Because it is very difficult to be roasted with its own oil. Inevitably, the quality is going down. Inevitably, you start doing business according to demand. You put it into trade, materiality is dominant. Somewhere this has to be met so that you can do your job.
THEATER BIZ: I think this is valid for writing as well. Doesn't the writer start writing the commercial, in the conditions you are describing?
CİVAN CANOVA: Of course. You are doing TV work. What is the demand? There was an explosion in the rating of that episode, this did not happen, what do they want, you write it. Is this art now? Not. This account. Account book. Haa, there are those who do it very well. I wrote too. I wrote a TV series and earned money from it, but this is something else. It is not my profession.
WE THE THEATER: Do you prefer writing or being on stage?
CİVAN CANOVA: It changes every day. One day he, the other day. Now I decided I will do it, I say, I can't. I can't decide, but both are no different. As if someone lived longer! I do not know that. Or, depending on the work, it may not have a lifetime at all. The acting is ungrateful.
WE THE THEATER: Your own play, but can you criticize the play as a professional actor?
CİVAN CANOVA: They played very enthusiastically. As I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, sincerity is very important. When sincerity passes to the audience, small mistakes in the play are accepted and tolerated. There were errors — there were no, so I never looked with that eye. Sincerity is very important.
THEATER WE: Were your feelings when you wrote the play?
CİVAN CANOVA: Of course it was.
THEATER BIZ: Thank you for the interview. Health to your pen.
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