The Reflection of one man play in the Turkish theatre in the Republic Period

It is today required that both sociologically and theatrically a survey be carried out on one-man-plays, which came to the fore in Türkiye especially after 1980. For it is common that almost all theatres employ various examples of this genre and that many artists attempt to fulfil this alone, independent of any theatre. Of the reasons for this, the most outstanding is the changes in fields of economy and social life. It is inevitable that these changes shaîl be reflected to the stage. Theatres have begun to seek for something new and tended towards new productions with less expense or outcome in these conditions. Moreover, it is a somewhat different joy for the audience to see their favourite actor on the stage alone, accompanied by that actor's man-to-man contact and dialogue with the audience. It appears that one-man-plays have proliferated in various forms since 1980. These forms can be gathered under three main titles, considering the existing examples. The first is one-man-plays, which are written in accordance with the criteria of 'play' and 'theatre' despite with some deficiencies in this respect. The plays influenced by Dramatic and Open Structure understandings, the plays which are written making use of the traditional 'meddah' and 'narrative plays' can be regarded in this group. The second is the compilations of 'literary' or 'theatrical' works. And the third is the 'stand-up shows'. Mostly favoured by today's audience, this form of course does not fit the criteria of 'play' and 'theatre'. But we have involved it in the scope of our study as there is one person on the stage. We have mentioned almost all of the examples of these forms in Türkiye. Five different examples have been analysed in details for the purpose of clarifying this concept of one-man- play. Also it has been realised that the form of 'meddah' coming from the tradition has to be analysed to make out a synthesis. It is saddening not to see the continuation of a few studies which were carried out in this field in 1970s. This has to be solved. Though one-man-plays proliferate in today's Turkish theatre because of some necessities, they will fulfil their main functions only when they reach an artistic dimension and development.