…..or: to be or not to be -

The new absurd play Kim Bay Schmitt by Sébastien Thierry at the Nicosia Municipality Theatre

By Heidi Trautmann

What made Nehir Demirel, the director of the play, choose this very play, a play questioning in a Kafkaesque way the identity of one very normal couple. Perhaps because the question of identity has been a constant partner in the lives of this island?  I have not asked her yet, and actually I don’t want to know for sure because going along with the philosophy of the author, everything is relative, you cannot be sure of anything, and….it may happen to you any day…when reading daily news nowadays. Am I the fox or am I the rabbit?

I am sitting in the first row of my beloved small LBT theatre, where the stage starts at my feet and it would not take much courage or effort to enter it myself;  behind me all seats are taken. The play has been very successful and you have to rush to get a seat reserved for one of the two weekly performance days, Friday and Saturday.

The first scene with Monsieur and Madame Jean-Claude and Nicole Bélier, played by Osman Ateş and Özgür Oktay, is the only normal scene, just as in normal life, boring and banal, but then…..the telephone starts ringing, a telephone they don’t even have….. and with it the nightmare is in full action. They realize that there is a picture on the wall they have never seen before, a German shepherd, and the books in the shelves are not theirs….and a jacket that is not Jean-Claude’s. The identity card they find in the side pocket is in the name of Henri Schmitt, doctor of ophthalmology…..They want to leave the apartment but it is locked…panic takes over…Jean-Claude calls the police….an officer played by Bariş Refikoğlu, is coming and the drama takes its course, and the absurdity of the situation is in full view. They cannot prove who they are; the only Id card available is the one of Mr. Henri Schmitt. Consequently, a psychiatrist is invited to check on the couple’s sanity, played by a newcomer to the Lefkoşa Belediye Theatre, Pinar Inandım, fresh from Istanbul Conservatoire.

Here, I cannot go any further, I cannot disclose the dimensions in which this completely absurd situation develops. I read about the playwright, a Frenchman, born in Paris in 1970, a comedian and playwright, about whom one says that he not only writes to create the roles but who loves to write for the acting folk, to invite them to show their talent like in this case, to act with all they have, bodily and emotionally and for this Nehir Demirel has chosen the right actors. I have seen Osman Ateş, Özgür Oktay and Bariş Refikoğlu in so many different plays, that I can assure you that even their little finger takes part in acting and their body language and mimicry tell all the story. Pinar Inandım I have met privately, sister of Nilüfer Inandım, the painter, and both highly engaged in the arts. She has studied acting in Istanbul and it is her first play in Cyprus she is involved in. She has a very good presence on stage. Umut Ersoy who is responsible for design and media work, held the role of Schmitt junior, a dark presence.

What is behind it, you must come and find out. A situation is created, the question is …must one stay with the truth or must one adapt? Questions of humanity, questions of life.

For tickets please call 0392 227 8782. Email: lefkosabelediyetiyatrosu@hotmail.com

Please find the entire LBT equip  at the bottom of the poster.