Andre Antoine and the Establishment of Darülbedayi

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Year-Number: 2018-Volume 6 Issue 3
Yayımlanma Tarihi: null
Language : English
Konu : null
Number of pages: 25-31
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Abstract

With a big fame in Europe, the French dramatist André Antoine also has a privileged place in the history of Turkish theatre, especially in modern Turkish dramatic history. He pays several visits to Turkey with his ensemble Le Théatre Libre within the scope of his tour around Turkey. Cemil Topuzlu Pasha, the Mayor of Istanbul of those times, has a dream of establishing a theatre and music conservatory in the western sense. In 1914, he presents his project to the municipal assembly. Upon the request of the director Rıdvan Resit Bey, the famous André Antoine who is the manager of Paris Odéon Theatre is invited to Turkey for this project. Antoine accepts the invitation, comes to Istanbul to work for the project. He, however, encounters with a lot of difficulties in the early days of establishing the conservatory which he tries to model according to La Comédie Française. The conservatory starts its training and education with 56 students at Letafet Apartment in Şehzadebaşı. The conservatory is named Darülbedayi (Ottoman Fine Arts House) upon the request of Ali Ekrem, the son of the famous Turkish writer Namık Kemal. This article is intended to discuss Antoine’s role in the establishment of Darülbedayi and his contributions to the contemporary Turkish theatre during his short stay in İstanbul.

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