Ostermeier’s Ein Volksfeind on the Anniversary of Turkey’s Gezi Park Protests

Abstract

In this article Hanife Schulte discusses Thomas Ostermeier’s Ein Volksfeind, a German version of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People that toured to the International Istanbul Theatre Festival in 2014. In borrowing Maria Shevtsova’s notion of the sociology of performance, Hanife Schulte offers a sociological examination of Ein Volksfeind’s Istanbul performances and demonstrates how the first anniversary of Turkey’s Gezi Park protests at the time of the festival influenced the performances. These protests, which began in 2013, were in resistance to the Turkish government’s urban development plan for Istanbul’s Taksim Park. In her examination of the dramaturgy and stage design of the production and its Turkish reception, Schulte argues that Ein Volksfeind’s political dramaturgy-in-progress allowed Ostermeier to adapt its touring performances in Istanbul and transform them into events in which the Turkish audiences became fellow performers and adaptors who reflected on the Gezi Park protests. She also suggests that Ostermeier showed solidarity with the Turkish people resisting political violence and oppression in tackling their local politics. Hanife Schulte has completed three years of doctoral research in Theatre and Performance Studies at Tufts University and is an alumna of the Mellon School of Theater and Performance Research at Harvard University, where she participated in the 2019 Session on Migrations.