Ali and Ramazan
by Onur Karaoğlu (Studio 4 Istanbul)2014
Directed by Onur Karaoğlu Adaptation by Onur Karaoğlu, İbrahim Halaçoğl Performed by Fatih
Gençkal*, Nadir Sönmez, Gülen Karaman, İbrahim Halaçoğlu, Metin Göksel Light Design by Utku Kara Visual Design by Doruk Çiftçi, Ali Umut Ergin, Öykü Akarca Music by Recep Gül Sound Design by Özgür Kuşakoğlu Video Design by Burak Çevik Assistant Director: Alper Turan Produced by Studio 4 Istanbul and Ali Betil with the generous support of the Norwegian Embassy Festivals and Performances: garajistanbul, Baki Koşar Week of Hate Crimes, İzmir, Kaos GL Anti-Homophobia Week, Ankara, Diyarbakır Municipal Theater
Duration: 90’
*Fatih Gençkal is nominated Best Promising Actor at New Theater Magazine Awards, 2014
Ali and Ramazan is the stage adaptation of Perihan Mağden’s best-selling novel with the same title. The play creates two other story lines that help the audience see Ali and Ramazan from the world we live in now. While the audience gets to experience Ali and Ramazan’s story firsthand, three other characters are on stage relating to the main plot in their unique ways. Ruzgar, a university student majoring in film, is obsessed with the novel and sets off to make a short documentary on Ali and Ramazan. This process turns out to be one of self-searching for Rüzgar and he eventually comes out to his mother, Çiğdem who has difficulty accepting that herson is gay but enters a new world after losing him. In the meanwhile Akif, a university professor, teaches a literature class where he assigns his students to read Ali and Ramazan among other novels as a part of their curriculum. Akif’s lectures focus on the experience of reading, the act of being queer in Istanbul and metafiction.
