By Heidi Trautmann

I would not miss the opening of the Catalköy Theatre Festival, now for the eighth time.

See my text on one of former ones with some background information. http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=1788474122#.WqAuQ2puaUk

Village theatre in the true sense again; this is what citizens brought together in the past and will continue to do so in the future.  Entertainment on a level where the audience would recognize their own problems and when they could laugh about it and say: Look, the same as we have it at home.  They also want to see world problems solved in a playful way and with a satisfying ending, the bad guy was punished and the good one honoured. AND…on stage the moral finger can be raised and the one or other in the audience is grateful for the darkness in the auditorium and the neighbour would not see them blushing.

Something like this happened with the first play of the 2018 season with the GIBETSU / TIYATRO SU theatre group. I heard from a local theatre fan that this play has been shown years before but is always visited again with the same anticipation and giggles. I would not be able to give the proper translation of the title of the play written by Memet Baydur “Düdüklüde Kiymalı Bamya”  I would say:  ‘The minced Okra in the Pressure Cooker’ and we only get the meaning having watched the play. Old Grandpa, played by Derman Atik himself, who also directed the play, was a passionate cook and despises the modern way of pressure cooker and not only that, he makes quite clear what his opinion of today’s society is, uneducated, petit bourgeois society, nothing in their heads but gossip. His philosophy is: "A good meal is like a good democracy."  I loved the mimic of the actors; a play full of comic and wisdom.

The first play “Düdüklüde Kiymali Bamya” will be repeated again on March 9 and 10.

On March 12 we shall have the Beyarmudu Belediyesi Güney Mesary Halk Tiyatrosu with two plays; the one is a matinee show for children or those who still are children in their heart:

--Karagöz Paragöz, Playwright and director Izel Seylani

And in the evening at 20:00 hrs the play ‘Nor Betmez’

March 14: Tiyatro Kulis Mersin with the play ‘Ask-I Analiz’

March 16: Dördümcü Duvar Kültür ve Düsünce Dernegi with ‘Bak Baska’

March 20: KKTC Devlet Tiyatrosu  Matinee – ‘Dag Denize Kavustu’

March 23: MASK Tiyatro Corum with ‘Artist Pakize’

March 27: Güzelyurt Belediyesi Sehir Tiyatrolari with ‘Gül Pansiyon’

March 30: Mesarya Kültür Sanat Dernegi with ‘Gücük Gücücük Garamuza Gralligi’

The matinee shows start at 09.30, the evening shows at 20:00 hrs