Nisa Aygün
(ARUCAD Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, Acting Department 1st Year Student)
World Theatre Day is celebrated with free plays and events on the 27th of March in order to strengthen the connection of the theatre with its audience, to increase awareness and understanding of theatre in society and to develop theatre, the history of which is as old as the history of mankind itself. So why was this date chosen? Since when have we been celebrating it? On the one hand, March 27 is the opening date of the National Theatre in Paris. On the other, through a decision taken in 1961 of the International Theatre Union (ITI), which UNESCO founded in 1948, the idea of the World Theatre Day was realised with the acceptance of the idea put forward by the then ITI president Arvi Kivimaa at the conference held first in Helsinki and then in Vienna and with the support from Scandinavia. This celebration has become a tradition, carried out in 48 countries around the world for 61 years. Today, ITI has an active network of more than 100 centres and this year is the 62nd anniversary of the celebration of the true power of thought the social tool qualities that the theatre provides to people.
One of the most important events held on this day is the universal declaration written by a worldwide successful theatre actor, director or writer. The first declaration was written by the French poet, playwright and film director Jean Cocteau in 1962. In 1993, the Venezuela ITI Centre published all the declarations published between 1962-1993 in two anthologies, one in their original language and the other in Spanish. Besides the International Declaration, ITI organises major shows and festivals almost all over the world. In addition, every year a successful artist from theatre or other artistic disciplines working in partnership with theatre is invited to give a speech for World Theatre Day. The international text of the speech, which the artist gave with the strength of his intellectual background, was translated into more than 20 languages and published in many newspapers. At the same time, this declaration is read before the plays of many theatre groups around the world. In this way, the masses in many different geographies meet via a common denominator for a common goal. Many television and radio channels aim to deliver this declaration to listeners in every corner of the five continents and to raise awareness of the issue.
16 Years after the World Theatre Day began to be celebrated, at the congress held in 1977, Turkey proposed that countries write their own original statements, as well as a central statement. The following year, 1978, the first national declaration in Turkey was written by Muhsin Ertuğrul. The following is an extract from this statement:
“They say that theatre is a branch of art that was born as triplets: the writer, the actor and the audience. If these are separated from each other, there will be no theatre left. However, I am saying that both the writer who deciphered the most important issues of the day on paper and the artist who expressed them on stage came out of you. For this reason, we are one whole. Our thoughts, individually, may be separate, but our problems are one.’’
UNESCO established the World Theatre Day International Theatre of the Union in line with the goals of the committee by the president of ITI ‘in the context of the Performing Arts around the world to increase the exchange of knowledge and practice in the development process to arouse public awareness of the need for creativity and artistic production, and the provision of peace and friendship between peoples, and to increase mutual understanding and develop UNESCO’s contribution to achieving the stated goals.
Theatre, which represents creativity at its peak, advocates for society to remove its blinkers, drawing it into brand new realms through its existence. By looking at events and situations from different angles, it sheds light allowing people to see the truth. This special day is a functional transfer process that reflects the importance of theatre to humanity and aims to raise the cultural level of the society. Let our theatre exist, let us exist… Long live 27 March!
Theatre, which represents creativity at its peak, advocates for society to remove its blinkers, drawing it into brand new realms through its existence. By looking at events and situations from different angles, it sheds light allowing people to see the truth. This special day is a functional transfer process that reflects the importance of theatre to humanity and aims to raise the cultural level of the society. Let our theatre exist, let us exist… Long live 27 March!
“Living in the present with no hope other than achieving the transparency of moments that cannot be reproduced. A momentary meeting with the other in the shadow of a theatre, without any protection other than the authenticity of a word or gesture that reveals the truth.’’