Avrasya Uluslararası Araştırmalar Dergisi

Abstract

Modern Turkish Theater begins with the Tanzimat period, when we turned our direction and face to the West. As a natural consequence of our change of civilization, we take Western literature as an example. The influence of Western literature is primarily seen in new literary genres. Theater is one of these genres. In this period, there was a transition from traditional oral theater to a text-based theater understanding, and the foundations of modern Turkish theater were laid with İbrahim Şinasi's “Şair Evlenmesi”. However, censorship and oppression during the reign of Abdülhamid II negatively affected theater activities and a period of stagnation was experienced in the theater between 1876-1908. The proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy led to great changes in the social and cultural spheres, and the theater also had its share of this change. The enthusiasm brought by freedom manifested itself in the art of theater and the works of the Tanzimat period began to be staged again. In terms of theater literature, the works of the Second Constitutional Monarchy period were generally shaped around freedom, justice and social problems. While the authors criticized the tyranny of oppression, they also expressed the hopes that freedom brought. However, most of the works written in this period lacked artistic depth and were written with a didactic approach. The Turkish Theater of the Second Constitutional Monarchy Period both continued the legacy of the Tanzimat period and developed with new themes and understandings. However, political instability, censorship and social problems prevented the theater from developing in a healthy way and most of the works in this period lacked artistic depth. In this article, the Turkish Theater of the Second Constitutional Monarchy Period, which covers the years between 1908-1923, is discussed in terms of theater art and theater literature, and the place of this period in Turkish Theater is tried to be determined.