Istanbul

About this event

Istanbul is a music-theatre evening by director Selen Kara, music director Torsten Kindermann and writer/translator Akin Emanuel Sipal that flips the German 'economic miracle' narrative: the 1950s boom happens in Turkey, and Germans become guest workers there. Fifteen songs by Turkish pop icon Sezen Aksu form the musical backbone, performed live by five actors and four musicians, weaving the numbers into a story about migration, belonging, and identity. First created in 2014 at Theater Bremen (130+ sold-out shows), it has since been seen at theatres across Germany, including Bochum, Mannheim, Osnabrück, Bonn, Lübeck, Stuttgart and the Ruhrfestspiele. The Essen staging is a new adaptation by Kara, now Co-Artistic Director of Schauspiel Essen, and resonates personally with the city’s real Gastarbeiter history. Set design by Thomas Rupert, costumes by Emir Medić, dramaturgy by Katharina Rosch. Supported by the Friends of Theater und Philharmonie Essen and GENO BANK ESSEN.