By
Heidi Trautmann
The
month of September is the month for our theatre festival, now for the 16th
year; people are back from holidays; schools and universities have reopened
their doors for students thirsty for knowledge, the weather should be back to
comfortable temperatures and society is eager and ready for cultural
entertainment. An event many of us are
waiting for, theatre lovers, young and old.
Lefkoşa
Municipality and its theatre company have been working for months to offer us
an exciting programme again which was presented to us at a very nice party at
the new Bandabuliya Stage downtown Nicosia. This new stage has now been included
into the Festival Programme with two plays, while the other plays of the
festival were as usual at the Atatürk Culture and Congress Hall at the Near
East University in Nicosia.
This
year we were given nine performances by five theatre companies. The festival started with our own theatre, the
LBT - Lefkoşa Belediye Tiyatrosu - at the Bandabuliya Stage in Downtown Nicosia
with a play by Anton Tchechov, directed by Aliye Ummanel, on two days.
The
festival was continued with two plays by the Bakirköy Belediye Tiyatrolari from
Turkey, one by the playwright Ahmet
Sami Özbudak, and the other by Ceren Erkan; plays of two different eras and
each with different actors.
The
next play was with Altidan Sonra Tiyatro from Turkey with ‘HE-GO’ by Halil
Babür, a three person piece performed again at the Bandabuliya Stage.
Back
again at AKM at the NEU we saw the ‘Dinner’ by Herman Koch, a weird story, with
the Semaver Kumpanya from Turkey and finally on the last day, on September 27
the Dostlar Tiyatrosu with ‘Göcmenleeeer’ by the playwright Matei Visniec, with
famous Genco Erkal – I have seen him play on other occasions.
All
performances were fully booked; it was again a big success. The themes of the
plays very interesting, with questions that arise for us every day, especially
the last play about refugees, migration and immigration. I found the stage setting, the décor, quite
intriguing in all plays. No sofas, no living rooms, no utensils of social
surroundings, but symbols …. Light was a big factor and new ways of décor to
support the acting; minimalism; body language and mimicry were the tools of
acting, although the plays were very text intensive.
Altogether
a great pleasure in the month of September. After a performance I enjoyed
driving back home in my car over the mountain pass to Girne, leaning back in my
seat and thinking about the play I saw, feeling good, feeling fulfilled,
smiling.
I
have taken many photos but will publish only three of each play. Thank you to all involved.