THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT
ON STAGE NOW - at various venues in london, UK
A woman, who does not know how many times she has attempted suicide and who is having an internal reckoning about this act, makes some inferences about her life in exile. As a result of these inferences, she redesigns suicide as a conscious act in front of the audience. Aware of the socio-economic and cultural codes passed down from her mother, just before her planned jump, she starts to think about what she remembers from her childhood. Death is an idea inherited from her mother. This structure, where action and inaction turn into each other, turns into an inextricable paradox. Just like the interpretation of the unknown of life in a coffee fortune.
Running Time: 55 minutes
Writer: Şebnem İşigüzel Adaptation: Büke Erkoç, Ersin Yaşar Director/ Performer: Büke Erkoç Assistant Directors: Berfin Ertan, Öykü Eraslan Dramaturgy: Beril Çelik, Tamar Çıtak Sound Design: Ahmet Sipahi Lighting Design: Ersin Yaşar Assistant Lighting Design: Anıl Akbey Producer: NOK NOK! Poster Design: Öykü Eraslan Production Photos: Derin Küpeli
MAHALLEMIZ EŞRAFINDAN
FROM THE PEOPLE OF OUR NEIGHBOURDHOOD
ON STAGE NOW - at various venues in Türkiye
A girl grows up on an island inhabited by Greeks and Turks in Türkiye. One Easter, when she is fifteen years old, there is a knock on the door. When she opens the door, she sees the funniest and most beautiful eyes she has ever seen. The owner of those eyes is Sesil, the daughter of a Greek family living on the island. Sesil throws a tomato in her face and runs away; as an Easter prank. From that day on, the two become best friends. Despite her family and teacher who doesn't want her to be interested in 'different things', the girl loves poetry and music. One day she gives a poem that she wrote to Sesil. They kiss each other on the lips. Love transforms her and makes her grow. In this whole journey she discovers her peers and herself. She will leave the island, which for her is no different from a prison with clear borders, in another time plane.
Running time: 60 minutes
Playwright/ Performer: Berfin Ertan Directors: Berfin Ertan, Hakan Emre Ünal Movement Director: Büke Erkoç Production Assistants: Beril Çelik, Öykü Gökduman Poster Design: Öykü Eraslan Producer: Kiki Kolektif
HEP HALA ŞAFAK:
BENİ KORKUTTUĞUN BÜTÜN YOLLAR & EVIMIN HAYALETLERİ
ALWAYS STILL THE DAWN:
All The Ways You Scare Me & Ghosts of My House
SEASON OF 2022/23 - DasDas Istanbul, Türkiye
Together, these rebellious works traverse the hilarity and heartbreak of 8 women caught in the powerful interplay between the modern and the mythic - subverting everyday notions of family, addiction, connection and femininity.
Playwright: Susanna Fournier Director/ Translator: Büke Erkoç Performers: Berfin Ertan, Demet Taşkıran, Tamar Çıtak, Öykü Eraslan Stage Manager: Beril Çelik Set Design: DasDas Production Lighting Design: Ersin Yaşar Sound Design: Ahmet Sipahi Vocal: Işıl Yılmaz With the Voice of: Beril Çelik, Büke Erkoç, ilayda Top, Pelin Ermiş, Serin Öztoprak Production Photos: Ali Kemal Özatacan Poster Design: Oğulcan Kuş
Run Time: 120 min
PETER FECHTER:
59 MINUTES
NOVEMBER, 2019 at Luella Massey Studio Theatre
(UC Follies Production) - Toronto, Canada
The play takes place 1962’s East Berlin. The teenage boy, Peter Fechter, lies on the Death Strip with a fatal bullet wound after his attempt to cross to Berlin Wall and escape to the West. Peter’s body stays on the ground for 59 minutes; at the end of the 59th minute, he dies. This play is inspired by the death of the real Peter Fechter, one of the first people killed while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall. The play takes exactly 59 minutes; a digital watch counts throughout the show.
Playwright: Jordan Tannahill Director: Büke Erkoç Performer: Stephanie Zeit Dramaturge: Ahlam Hassan Stage Manager: Grace Marshall Set Design: Büke Erkoç Lighting & Sound Design: Jacob Kay Costume Design: Reena Cabanilla Poster Design: Ece Doğan
HOUSE ON FIRE
MARCH, 2019 (a CDTPS Production)
at Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse - Toronto, Canada
A ragtag group of panellists assemble at a public symposium to discuss Hope: is it a curse or a blessing? A question that philosophers have been debating since the Ancient Greeks. Is Hope a good thing to cling to when one’s situation looks grim? Does the world still have Hope? How do we start behaving like “the house is on fire” without the support of Hope? Are we hard-wired to be hopeful?
Drawing from “Scenes from the Classics” the panellists aim to illuminate some answers to these questions. But instead of answers they descend into unexpected mayhem, at times hilarious, at other times terrifying. They discover truths they weren’t expecting. Perhaps only Pandora knows the real answer.
Director: Martha Ross Co-creators / Performers: Rachel Bannerman, William Dao, Leslie Durward, Büke Erkoç, Jacob Kay, Eiléanór O’Halloran, Joanne Perez, Frosina Pejcinovska, Margaret Rose Stage Manager: Beka Morrison Set and Costume Designer: Snezana Pesic Lighting Designer: Giuseppe Condello Sound Designer and Production Photographer: Lyon Smith Projection Designers: Nicole Eun-Ju Bell and Dan Petrenko Production Manager: Giuseppe Condello Technical Director: Peter Freund
YOU ARE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN ISTANBUL
… They left a clock in the room; it makes me count the seconds. Tick tack, tick tack…
… Am I going to live alone, now? My heart is beating in a strange manner. Kut!… Kut!… Kut!…
… Don’t forget me. I don’t know whether it is sweat or tears. Pıt! Pıt! Pıt! Pıt!…
Three women from different generations, on their chairs, are telling their stories. It’s a fifty-year story in an ever-changing city’s landscape and Turkey’s socio-political context. You are more Beautiful than Istanbul is about building bridges. It’s feminist, engaging, political and sometimes funny.
Playwright: Murat Mahmutyazıcıoğlu Director: Büke Erkoç Performers: Stephanie Zeit, Rachel Bannermen, Mégane Degousée Stage Manager: Elyse Waugh Assistant Stage Managers: Lauren Lacey, Sebastian Lima Santos Scenic Design: Snezana Pesic Lighting Design: Lauren Lacey Projection Design: Lauren Lacey and Nicole Eun-Ju Bell Sound and Costume Design: Sandy Szalai Props Master: Grace Faria Poster Design: Ece Doğan Production Manager: Giuseppe Condello Supervisor: Leah Cherniak Assistant Production Photos: Brittany Chan
