Samson, leader of the Israelites, is a man of superhuman strength. Against the Philistines he seems invincible. With Delilah, his Philistine lover, he is openly infatuated. The source of Samson’s power is a secret – but when Delilah decides to root it out, her discovery threatens to change the course of history forever. Director […]
After debuting at the recent Turkish Theatre Festival, staged at Millfield Theatre, directors Katharina Reinthaller and Barış Celiloğlu bring their adaption of Ariel Dorfman’s award-winning Death and the Maiden / Ölüm ve Kız to the Arcola next Sunday. The powerful play was penned in 1990 in the wake of the brutal Pinochet regime in […]
A new musical stage adaptation of Bliss or Mutluluk, a novel of the same name originally written by the politician, singer and artist Zülfü Livaneli, played at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston, East London last week. A joint production with Istanbul’s experimental theatre Talimhane, this was an outstanding, emotive and powerful performance. This UK run […]
In Lake Van, Eastern Turkey, fifteen-year-old Meryem is accused of shaming her family after being raped by her uncle. Cemal, her cousin, is tasked with Meryem’s “honour” killing. But their journey takes an unexpected turn when they encounter Irfan, a troubled professor in search of a new life… Arcola artistic director Mehmet Ergen directs […]
Cholera Street is set among the wild and lawless slums of old Istanbul. One of its residents Salih, a happy-go-lucky mechanic and the youngest son of a well-loved barber, is about to land himself in lots of trouble when he steps into the shoes of a recently deceased local gangster-cum-community protector. Adapted from Metin Kaçan‘s […]
Embroiled in civil war, the children of Syria are exiled from their home by a hostile regime. They flee from country to country in search of sanctuary, but every border is closed to them. What next? 2,400 years on from the premiere of Euripides’ The Children of Hercules, Arcola Ala-Turka stages an urgent new production […]
Young love, a sacred tree, a chalk circle that no one can cross, and Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel, watching over all. Mahmud and Yezida come from adjoining villages, but they may as well live in opposing worlds. He is Muslim, she is Yazidi – an ancient religion whose mystical beliefs are often confused with Satanism. […]
Massenet’s tragic masterpiece, based on Goethe’s Sorrows of the Young Werther, is a passionate and thrilling tale of forbidden love. A young poet, Werther, falls passionately in love with his beautiful muse, Charlotte. He learns that she has promised her dying mother to marry another man, Albert. When the melancholy poet Werther escorts Charlotteto a ball, he […]
A young Swiss-Turkish director emerged as a surprise winner in the third annual What’s On Stage Opera Poll. Aylin Bozok’s production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (pictured), staged at the Arcola Theatre’s Grimeborn Festival last year, was voted the Best Newcomer to the UK Operatic Scene in this year’s awards. A total of 15,000 votes – the […]
