"THE COMEDY OF THE INHARMONIOUS ORDER",

Meltem Kerrar, Cumhuriyet, 21 May 2001

"The play questions the social order trying to exist in between the unnecessary rules and taboos over the marriage fact. The author ironically tells the hypocritical rules of a traditional society which are also valid in the so-called "sacred" marriage institution. Theatre Oyunevi aims to have an entertainment together with the audience by the "Marriage" of Gogol.
Gunsiray illustrates the play brought out in a couple of weeks process as a "task of carrying out a project in a few amount of time". AMarriage had been picked between the plays appropriate to this aim.
Theatre Oyunevi had always performed plays after long hard working processes. Gunsiray emphasizes that they've been working over Kafka since 1996 for the last year's performance, In The Penal Colony. AMarriage is distinct at that point of view. "We've always spared long periods for pre-workings, throughout the rehersals we spent long hours on discussing and improvisations. However, this time we didn't

give ourselves the luxury of long thinking periods, we wanted take the decisions quickly and moreover put these into practice on the stage as a performer"
(...)
The Play Encompasses The Audience
The play has a different integrity resulting from the usage of the whole play area, the closeness of the audience and the players and the surrounding of the play area by the audience. Gunsiray declares that every
performer has a different action at every moment throughout the performance. All of these provide the play to have a "full" quality.
For Gunsiray it can both be an advantage or a disadvantage to be so close to the audience for a player. " This is what we've been working on both technically and relationary. There also had been a close relationship with the audience at Koltes, but this project has a very warm relation. Because everyone is seated as the guests came to a ceremony of a marriage. And the stage is divided into two parts as the sides of men and women."

Just like the other plays, the structure of the play has something to do with recent world. Although it was not adapted to today's Turkish milieu, the work carried out can be seen as Turkish to him. "Despite the people at this play are the ones in Gogol's period, everything in it is also valid for Turkish people. In one of his articles Yıldırım Turker has resembled the Turkish people to an "infant travesty". If this play has a theme, it is the position of being travesty of Turkish people. Inside is eastern, outside must be western, his car is a Mercedes, but he holds the wheel as if it was a tractor. The reactions are childish. There's no need of thinking. All of the characters here are right behind of creating an image of the upper class they're not a member of. But somehow they can not adapt to it."

"ALOUD THOUGHTS OVER MARRIAGE",

Handan Salta, Cumhuriyet

"While carrying the play to Turkey, Theatre Oyunevi has localized it and stressed characteristics of the contemporary human beings. Agafya's desire to marry a noble man was the important thing at Gogol's text but also her sexuality was emphasized at the play we saw. The preparations for the marriage have been staged ritualistic as we do. The slippers wore when entering the house are also peculiar to us. It's also very familiar to us that marriage means spending a considerable amount of money, and the groom's obligation to pay money for the drinks, dinner and the costumes.
The places of the women and the men are separated with the two doormats at the center of the stage and the slippers lined up. We can simultaneously watch the house of Agafya and the suitors. This helps the audience to alienate from both points of views. The antonym between the words of the one at one side and the attitude of another at the other side is an important aspect of the comedy. The costumes are also supporting the comedy effect."