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Bilkent News:
It's been nearly 400 years since "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written.
However, it's still performed very often. Why has this play remained so
popular?
TN: Great writers
like William Shakespeare take as their subjects universal ones that
don't change as time passes--for example, love, evil, jealousy, etc. Of
course, they aren't consciously thinking that their works will be
performed hundreds of years later. It's just that they choose very human
subjects that were relevant in the past and will remain relevant in the
future.
Bilkent News:
Like other Shakespeare plays, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a dream
come true for actors and actresses to perform in. What do you feel while
you're on stage?
EM&TY: We aren't
actors or actresses, we're students. So, when they chose Shakespeare for
our graduation project, we all became very frightened because of the
difficulty of the language and the seriousness of the play. However,
after rehearsing more than 200 times, we've been able to reveal
something, although I don't know if it's good or bad. And in addition to
the play's difficulty, it's of course very amusing, and a great
experience for us as performers.
Bilkent News: In
the current production, the audience sees some surprising touches, like
the "Ankara misket" folk dance. How did these get into the play? Was it
hard to add them to the original text?
EM&TY: As we said,
we rehearsed more than 200 times. You know, this can get very boring. In
one of the rehearsals we made some changes just for fun. Then we asked
Mr. Nakashidze for permission to keep the changes in the production, and
he let us.
TN: The story is
set in ancient Greece, but some of the dances in the play are from the
Roman Empire, and the story also has elements from Christianity. It's
certain that Shakespeare knew history, but because the story is told
like a kind of dream, as the title of the play tells us, it's very
acceptable to add new elements. And so, I let the students add a
traditional dance from Ankara.
Bilkent News:
Finally, what do you think about the level of interest in theater at
Bilkent?
EM&TY: We don't
know exactly who the people are who buy the tickets. All we know is that
since the premiere, the seats in the theater have always been full.There
will be one more performance of "A Midsummer Nights's Dream," on
Friday, November 25. For tickets, contact the Bilkent ticket office
at ext. 1775.
Umut Özöver (CTIS/I)
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