Performance & Reading – Emine Sevgi Özdamar

PERFORMANCE & READING – Emine Sevgi Özdamar
June 4, 2026, 7:00 PM
Orient-Institut Istanbul
Languages: Performance: Turkish with English surtitles / Reading: German and Turkish
As part of the conference Ensemble as Foundation – Theatrical Practice and Poetics of Emine Sevgi Özdamar

Duygu Dalyanoğlu & Nihal Albayrak: Where Do You Live?
Performance

Coming together to complete a mission spanning years, a flock of crows summons a writer with “sickened words” come back to an abandoned church in Cunda. This is more than just a story of return; it is an excavation of memory that stretches from the bullet-riddled walls of Berlin to the dust of the theatre stage, and from a grandmother’s prayer rug to the darkness of interrogation rooms.

As the lantern’s light strikes the church walls on stage, weathered frescoes come to life; the memories of the departed mingle with a grandmother’s prayers. While a woman plays with “words without a childhood” in a foreign tongue, the crows act as both her guides and whisperers of prophecy.

Our hearts offer a different answer in every scene of the play when this famous question is asked:

Where do you live?
In the shadow of a church…
In the folds of my grandmother’s skirts…
In the lights of the theatre seen from the Wonaym…
In the mischievous answers I gave under interrogation…
In the verses of Brecht…
In a rehearsal of Hamlet…
And finally… In a play performed by crows!

Tonight, between the stage and you, a memory that has weathered the years, words waiting to heal, and the story of a travel through many countries will come to its end.

The choir of crows is honored to salute you. Welcome. We are delighted to have you.
Based on Emine Sevgi Özdamar’s works:

Das Leben ist eine Karawanserei
Die Brücke vom Goldenen Horn
Seltsame Sterne starren zur Erde
Ein von Schatten begrenzter Raum

Adapted and Staged by: Duygu Dalyanoğlu, Nihal Albayrak
Performers: Duygu Dalyanoğlu, Kani Diyar Bayram, Melis Öz, Nihal Albayrak Dramaturgical Consultant: Benoît Ellerbach
Paintings: ‘Emine’ Sevgi Özdamar (with thanks to the Maxim Gorki Theater for digitization) Visual Design: Kenan Özcan
Crow Costume Design: Şafak Şule Kemancı

EMINE SEVGI ÖZDAMAR: READING

The performance will be followed by a reading by Emine Sevgi Özdamar. Emine Sevgi Özdamar (born 10 August 1946 in Malatya, Turkey) is a Turkish-born German writer, as well as an actor and theatre director, based in Berlin. Raised in Istanbul and Bursa, she first appeared on stage at the age of twelve and came to West Berlin in 1965 as a guest worker before studying acting in Istanbul (1967–1970). She then performed in productions of Peter Weiss and Bertolt Brecht. Following the 1971 military coup, she returned to Germany in 1976 and worked as an assistant director at the Volksbühne in East Berlin with Benno Besson and Matthias Langhoff, later on she collaborated with Einar Schleef and Claus Peymann. From 1979 to 1984, she was engaged at the Schauspielhaus Bochum. Since the early 1980s, she lives in Berlin, working as a freelance writer, actor, and director. Her work—shaped by her transnational experience—develops a distinctly theatrical prose that explores language, migration, and cultural layering throughout her plays, short stories, and novels. The Istanbul–Berlin trilogy (Das Leben ist eine Karawanserei, 1992; Die Brücke vom Goldenen Horn, 1998, Seltsame Sterne starren zur Erde, 2003) and her debut collection Mutterzunge (1990) form the core of her oeuvre. They brought early recognition, while her most recent novel Ein von Schatten begrenzter Raum appeared in 2021. Her awards include the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize (1991), the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize (1999), the Heinrich von Kleist Prize (2004), the Georg Büchner Prize (2022), and the Bertolt Brecht Prize (2026). She is a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature and the Academy of Arts, Berlin.

Organized by Koç University and the Orient-Institut Istanbul in collaboration with Sorbonne Université (Paris) and Université de Picardie Jules Verne (Amiens), in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Istanbul, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Istanbul, and the Nâzım Hikmet Center for Cultural and Artistic Research.

The languages of the event are English, Turkish and German. Participation is free of charge. Registration is required for attending the event. Please register via the form below. Photos/videos will be taken during the event. By participating, you consent to their use. The event will not be recorded.

VENUE 
Orient-Institut Istanbul
Galip Dede Cad. 65, Şahkulu Mah., TR – 34421 Istanbul
Tel.: +90 212 293 60 67
oiist@oiist.org
www.oiist.org

REGISTRATION
Please register here to participate in the event at the Orient-Institut Istanbul: