Didactic Realism: Aras Ören and Working-Class Culture

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IN THE SECOND INSTALLMENT of Aras Ören's narrative poems constituting the Berlin trilogy (1973–80), we encounter a two-line reference to the Dram Tiyatro, the oldest theater in Istanbul. Apart from being the location of an encounter between two characters in the story, and the mentioned detail of torn Brecht posters in front of it, this passage appears in the narrative poem without being supplemented by additional references to its historic, cultural, and political significance. The Dram Tiyatro has a special place in Turkish theater history, in particular with regard to Brecht. Indeed, the “Brecht incident” discussed at length in the previous chapter made the Dram Tiyatro not merely the center of Turkish debates on the politics and possibilities of a revolutionary theater, but also the site to which an international discussion of Turkish cultural politics referred. These public discussions led to an increased interest in Brecht and an intensive engagement with Brecht's writings on epic theater, and Haldun Taner's success with his play The Ballad of Ali Keshan, which employs a Brechtian epic mode and premiered on March 31 of the same year, further intensified the interest in Brecht's dramatic theory and practice.