Cypriot artists meet up with CIU students

Yaşar Ersoy, Erol Refikoğlu and Osman Alkaş, three of the founders of the Nicosia Municipal Theater, got together with the students at the interview organized by the Theater Club which is like other clubs affiliated to the  Social Activities and Student Clubs Coordinator’s Office of the Cyprus International University (CIU), Student Development and Counseling Center (SDCC).

Ersoy gave information about how this initiative began its creative trip aiming to produce theatrical art in Cyprus and stated that theater in the western sense started in 1908 in Cyprus, however, added that traditional Turkish theater had existed before that.

Refikoğlu, on the other hand, stated that he experienced the effects of the roles he performed in his daily life, and pointed out that it is necessary to affect the daily lives of not only those who perform but also the audience.

Alkaş said that they published a one-page manifesto when they were in the process of establishing and institutionalizing the Nicosia Municipal Theater in 1980, explaining how they benefited from the elements of traditional Turkish theater as well as modern theater techniques, and added that they started this work to perform plays depicting the perceptions, lifestyle, sadness and happiness of the Turkish Cypriot people.

Following the talk at Levent Kindergarten, CIU Theater Club presented the two-act play "Karmakarışık" which is an absurdist comedy, to art lovers. Theater Club President Selhan Ege Erdikut talked about the play they performed and stated that they received good feedback from the audience as a result of their hard work, and noted that as a club they always strive to achieve better and will continue to do so.