Prof. Halman's "Turkish" Shakespeare Book Published
Talat Halman, acting chairman of the Department of English Language and Literature, has published a book in Turkish (Hece Yayınları, Ankara, 2011) featuring dramatic selections from Shakespeare's plays. The book, intended as a well-rounded profile of the Bard, is the full text of a one-man play that was presented 75 times by actor Müşfik Kenter in the 1986-1987 theater season. In recent years Prof. Halman himself has presented the work as a dramatic recital, many times with actress Yıldız Kenter and occasionally with his daughter, actress Defne Halman.
The title “‘Türk’ Shakespeare” does not imply any claim that Shakespeare was ethnically Turkish or ever lived in Turkey; it simply emphasizes the point that Shakespeare has so pervasively dominated Ottoman and modern Turkish theater since the mid-19th century that he could be figuratively identified as "Turkish." The book contains soliloquies, dialogues and other quotations from each of Shakespeare's 37 plays, in addition to a number of sonnets. (All of the translations are by Prof. Halman himself.) It is studded with humorous anecdotes from Shakespeare productions in London's West End, New York's Broadway, Istanbul and elsewhere.
The dramatic readings of “‘Türk’ Shakespeare” have been presented since 2000 in Ankara (Bilkent, Ankara, Hacettepe, METU, Çankaya and Atılım Universities), İstanbul (Koç, Boğaziçi, Yeditepe, Bahçeşehir and İstanbul Universities) and elsewhere. Prof. Halman's Shakespeare recital has its English-language version as well. He has presented it numerous times with Yıldız Kenter (a special gala production took place at the British Embassy in Ankara, with four members of the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra playing music of the age of Shakespeare) and Defne Halman (at the Turkish Center in New York City and the Turkish Cultural Foundation in İstanbul).