Currently on view at the Istanbul State Theater is a charming musical with book by Nazim Hikmet and music by Cumhur Bakiskan. For the plot, it's none other than girl Fatma (Mine Tufekcioglu) in love with penurious boy, but parents try to push a moneyed candidate onto her -- with a few wrinkles. Maybe Fatma's dilemma would resolve itself in one of the customary ways, but Gypsy (Nisan Sirinyan) gets everyone high smoking opium. Everyone simultaneously jumps ship and lands on a desert isle. Ahmet the Cook (Mustafa Ugurlu) is now calling the shots, and he dispenses his own version of justice. Hikmet's ending leaves open the possibility that this was all a dream, or did it really happen that way?
The slight story is less the point than Avkiran's specific treatment of Hikmet and Bakiskan's work. In 1913, Turkey began a fresh opening to European culture. The operetta form caught on like wildfire, and soon its easy melodies were heard everywhere. Barely a decade later, Attaturk's revolution abruptly redefined the country's cultural dialogue, and operettas became extinct. "I Had a Dream" is more than an exercise in nostalgia, though. Investigation of the past is part of a larger movement within Turkey to explore cultural pluralism, present and past. The action takes place on a cruise ship, carefully set up so that the well-off on the upper deck don't have to mix with the impoverished down below on Naz Erayda's three-level set. Erayda's fanciful white costumes utilize assorted reflective panels.
Free-flowing commedia dell'arte-style comic routines alternate with songs and dance numbers to Ovul Avkiran's choreography. Blithe infidelities and tongue-in-cheek commentary move the action along. Mustafa Avkiran's clear direction includes stylized movement that gives a charming period flavor. The spotlight is justly on the principals, but also outstanding are the six chorus members, more than one with legit voice.
