Theatrical performance, everyday life experience and transformation: Zeytinburnu people's theatre

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1301352 (Table of Contents)

This thesis analyzes the interplay between everyday life and theatre, and the transformative potential of theatrical performance. The focal point of the study is an amateur theatre group composed of children and young people in Zeytinburnu, a district in Istanbul largely configured of immigrants. Themes involving ethnicity, family, gender and class inform many of the stories performed on stage as the young members of the group have intimately experienced these issues in their everyday lives. The narratives of the young people in the group highlight the transformative potential of theatre activity. This transformative potential is limited in so far as both the contentious group dynamics and the larger social context affect the agents and the community of theatre activity. The alternative mode and political aspects of theatrical performance are discussed, focusing on how youth in the group experience the process of theatrical performance in relation to everyday life experience. This study aims to point out new discussions concerning the function of theatrical performance and the contact between political and theatrical.