KHAS ERC Performance and Politics Webinars – Dr. Bahar Akpınar

Theatre to Survive by Jewish Inmates in Terezin / Theresienstadt Concentration Camp and Ghetto

Speaker: Dr. Bahar Akpınar

Moderator: Şeyda Nur Yıldırım

Time: Wednesday, November 24 at 7:30 pm Istanbul (GMT +3)

11:30 am New York, 4:30 pm London, 5:30 pm Central European

Please register in advance for this webinar: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88677142380

Meeting ID: 886 7714 2380 Password: 234015

The webinar will be in English.

Theatre has long been called a laboratory –for revolution, catharsis, and for formulating our relationship to social action and ethical responsibility. As Tony Kushner once remarked, “theatre is the greatest device we have ever invented for teaching critical consciousness.” By interpreting plays produced during one of the most horrible times in the world’s history, we can discuss how theatre can maintain the power of endurance. This presentation explores the creative coping process of reorganizing the past and projecting the future in the theatre plays secretly written by Jews in Terezin/Theresienstadt during the Holocaust. By exploring the relationship between the time-place designs and memory, Dr. Bahar Akpınar will explain the effect of this structural design on strengthening spiritual resistance. The research turns its face to Poetics by Aristotle to make a comparison with its findings. In this presentation, Dr. Akpınar proposes a new term, “counter-catharsis,” to the field by comparing the findings of psycho-aesthetic design in the Terezin Plays with the rules stated by Aristotle in Poetics. The Terezin Plays are unique and first examples of the counter-catharsis phenomena. However, this concept may bring a new perspective on examining many other works.

Dr. Bahar Akpınar started her career in corporate life, and then she moved on to academic study in the Department of Playwriting and Dramaturgy at Dokuz Eylul University Izmir, Turkey. She completed her master’s degree at the University of Glasgow. While working as an adjunct lecturer in the Performing Arts Department at Dokuz Eylul University, she continued her PhD on theatre plays written by Jewish inmates in the Theresienstadt. She completed her PhD in January 2021. Dr. Akpınar also completed her MA in Holocaust Studies at the Royal Holloway University of London in 2021. In addition to her various academic and artistic awards, her plays were published in the USA and her book on Henrik Ibsen was published in Turkey. She is a writer for Şalom newspaper.

This webinar series and the “Staging National Abjection” research project are sponsored by a European Research Commission Starting Grant (ERC-2019-StG, Grant ID: 852216).

Website: https://stagingabjection.com/

Twitter: @StagingAbject

Instagram: @stagingabjection

Facebook Page: ERC Staging National Abjection/ERC Ulusal Abjeksiyonu Sahnelemek