At a time when theaters in Turkey are being closed, artists are being dismissed, and both playbills and productions are being controlled by the state, Frank Heuel spent a total of eight months in Istanbul in 2016/17, intermittently, as part of a grant from the Kunststiftung NRW. There he works on four plays in cooperation with various theaters and ensembles of the independent scene.
At the beginning of 2016, the situation for theater professionals is already not easy. It intensified massively with the attempted coup in June 2016. Pressure is being exerted on the independent scene in Istanbul: state subsidies are being massively cut or eliminated altogether.
Despite these difficulties, Frank Heuel has witnessed a great determination among theater professionals to continue. The four works that were created under his direction and in Turkish-German teams bear witness to this force of determination and make the climate, the particular situation and the latent fears tangible in very different ways.
A production of fringe ensemble/Turkey GbR. Sponsored by: Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Goethe Institute Istanbul.
4Projekte Istanbul is supported by the Kunststiftung NRW and the Goethe Institut Istanbul.
No False Heroism – Theater Man Frank Heuel on Working in Turkey
Deutschlandfunk / Culture Today / March 2017
Lost in Language – Theater in Istanbul – A conversation with Frank Heuel
WDR 3 Culture at Noon / Michael Struck-Schloen / 2016
Contribution Goethe Institute Istanbul.