TAKSAV 11th INTERNATIONAL İZMİR THEATRE FESTIVAL TO BE HELD FROM 1 TO 11 DECEMBER 2023

THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL THEME IS TRANSFORMATION

“Everything changes…” Although this phrase was spoken 2500 years ago, those in power always try to silence it. They do their utmost to convince us that nothing will ever change. They force us to believe that what exists has always been and will be forever.

They call it fate… They call it God’s command… They call it luck… They call it the law of nature. They want us to accept their power. They try to make us believe that we were born to be slaves, that living in poverty is our destiny, that we are powerless and needy, that we cannot live unless we obey. Sometimes with sweet words, but mostly with a whip, with the chains they put on our wrists, and at times by shedding our blood, tearing our skin apart, leaving us covered in blood.

Yet, deep inside, we know that the only thing that doesn’t change is change itself. By acting, we oppose what is called fate. The magic of the play brings forth change. In plays we can be someone else, live a different life, defeat dragons; we find hope in the power of representation.

Tragedy was born as rebellion against what is called fate. It has endlessly told the story of the rebellion of mortal humans against immortal gods. The hero of tragedy wants change, but the rulers of an ancient age do not allow it. Every tragedy ends with the victory of the gods after a failed rebellion. Thus, it preaches to the audience that change is very beautiful as a dream, but in the end they must return to reality.

But once a person watches a play, the defeat on stage brings hope to life. Change is possible, even when you have been defeated. That is the power of theatre; it transforms the audience with the hope it carries within. Someone watching a play becomes a participant in the play, another person. On stage, we understand that the tiger is made of paper, that the emperor is naked, and that the dragon’s flames won’t burn us. The possibilities on stage flow to the audience as courage.

Not all change is positive, of course. We may be transformed and begin to ask questions, like Brecht’s reading worker, or we may metamorphose, like Kafka’s cockroach.

Since the 1980s, they have tried to metamorphose us in Turkey, like all the oppressed of the world, under the guise of change. For over forty years they have sought to metamorphose in the name of transformation. They have tried to make us lose our humanity and to ruin nature for the sake of more exploitation.

TAKSAV has been defending transformation against metamorphosis since 1993. It has become the foundation of those who are aware that revolutionism is essentially embracing change and transforming the struggle in accordance with new conditions. It has transformed with the awareness that freedom, equality, justice, a humane life, are possible with a world that takes care of the birds, the insects, the plants and the trees, the rivers and the seas. Now, on the centennial of the Republic, we are preparing for the 11th İzmir International Theatre Festival to represent the revolutionary hope on the stage, inviting you to resist the Metamorphosis and to transform the life from the stage to the streets.