DATE AND VENUE

20, 21.05.1999, 21.00
22.05.1999, 15.30
Muhsin Ertuğrul Sahnesi

İSTANBUL MUNICIPAL THEATRES

• Written by: William Shakespeare
• Directed by: Başar Sabuncu

Should the story of the “star-crossed” lovers in their “journey into death” be presented to contemporary audiences as merely a “romantic tragedy” or a “pathetic tale of love”? Or, does the “assumed sense of peace and order” that follows the death of Romeo and Juliet/that actually marks the finale of every play by Shakespeare, in fact foreshadow the emergence of a new (a more deeply rooted) conflict? If so, we cannot be satisfied with simply warming the heart of the audiences by letting them shed a tear or two for the pitiful and the young lovers. We feel that this 1999 production of “Romeo and Juliet” should also be handled through a concept that holds the clues to question the “order” of the “power of authority”, which feeding on the blood of young people, has, in near history/our history (and surely in our day), rendered the experience of such romance impossible.” The Theatre Festival will hold the premier of Shakespeare’s celebrated tragedy conceived through a contemporary reading by director Başar Sabuncu.