Held for the first time this year, the International Bodrum Theatre Festival (BOTİF) will run from 3 to 16 November and host 23 different productions. The festival will welcome theatre, music, dance and performance works from Turkey, Germany, Belgium, France and Greece. Events will take place both on land and at sea, alongside talks and workshops.
Under the joint artistic direction of Övül Avkıran and Mustafa Avkıran, BOTİF aims to bring different artistic disciplines together. With a programme celebrating Bodrum’s cultural riches, the 1st International Bodrum Theatre Festival comes to the town in the centenary year of the Republic.
Tickets will be available via Biletinial, and a total of 23 productions from Turkey, Germany, Belgium, France and Greece will meet audiences at the festival. Events will be held at a range of venues, including Inspera Sahne, Inspera Mini Sahne, Inspera Açık Sahne, Bodrum Castle, the STS Bodrum, the Bodrum Municipality Heredot Cultural Centre and the Nurol Cultural Centre.
Opening with “Deli Dumrul” by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality City Theatres, the festival will stage numerous plays from Turkey and Europe. From Turkey it will host “BİZ” (Us) by Bedirhan Dehmen & MTDist, “Gelin Tanış Olalım” (Come, Let’s Get Acquainted) by Donkişot Tiyatro, “Misket” (Marble) by Faraza Tiyatro, “Hakikat, Elbet Bir Gün” (Truth, Surely One Day) by Tiyatro D22, “Istırap Korosu” (Chorus of Suffering) by BAM İstanbul, “Hasret” (Longing) by Şirin Aktemur and “Hayal Satıcısı” (The Dream Seller) by AYSA Prodüksiyon Tiyatrosu. From Germany come Interkulturell-Aktiv e.V.’s “NSU – There Are Germans Among the Victims Too” and MomoAct’s “Ashura”; from Belgium, Theater Antract’s “Tut Bırak” (Hold, Let Go) and Platform 0090’s “Gılgamış” (Gilgamesh).
One of the festival’s most intriguing events will be a staged reading aboard the sail training ship STS Bodrum. Hosted by Jehan Barbur, each performance will see a different set of theatre artists, among them Aslı Kobanbay, Berna Laçin, Derya Alabora, Deniz Çakır, Esra Akkaya, Gülbin Yeşil, Kaan Çakır, Kaya Akkaya, Kerem Kobanbay, Koray Şahinbaş, Mustafa Alabora and Yonca Şahinbaş, read passages from “Mavi Sürgün” (The Blue Exile) by Halikarnas Balıkçısı (the Fisherman of Halicarnassus), with Jehan Barbur accompanying them with her magnificent voice and songs.
The festival will also feature concerts and talks. Bodrum’s art lovers can enjoy Cem Yıldız’s “Ben Uçarım Gökler Uçar” (I Fly, the Skies Fly), “Efsane Hanımlar” (Legendary Ladies) by Sema Moritz from Germany, Renan Bilek’s “Aranjmanlar – Öyküleriyle Şarkılar” (Arrangements – Songs and Their Stories), Nuri Harun Ateş’s “Das Cabaret” and “İstanbul’dan Mektup” (Letter from Istanbul), a Turkish–Greek co-production by Sokrates Sinopoulos and Derya Türkan. The concert “Şarkıların Cumhuriyeti” (The Republic of Songs), performed by Dilek Türkan and Oğuzhan Balcı with the Muğla Metropolitan Municipality City Orchestra, will take place free of charge on 10 November at the Bodrum Municipality Heredot Cultural Centre.
Public talks will be held at the Nurol Cultural Centre by Yücel Erten and Mustafa Avkıran on 4 November, and by Daphnis Kokkinos and Koza Tamdoğan on 5 November. Kokkinos, dancer and rehearsal director of the Pina Bausch Tanztheater, will also lead a workshop for professionals, with participation by reservation only.
Enlivened by “Beyaz” (White), a contemporary dance piece co-produced in France and Brazil by Arrangement Provisoire, and Evren Erbatur’s performance “Sorularımdan Korkmayın Ben Sadece Bir Dramaturgum” (Don’t Be Afraid of My Questions, I’m Just a Dramaturg), the 1st BOTİF will close with a Closing Party featuring Emre Kınay and Çiğdem Gürel.
The 1st International Bodrum Theatre Festival will provide an important platform for reflecting and sharing Bodrum’s cultural and artistic diversity. The festival is supported by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Bodrum Municipality, BOSAV (Bodrum and Caria Region Culture, Arts and Promotion Foundation) and Mey|Diageo. Tickets for the festival, running from 3 to 16 November 2023, are available from Biletinial.
