site.btaIvan Vazov Was the First Bulgarian Playwright Staged in Turkish - In Istanbul in 1912

Ivan Vazov was the first Bulgarian playwright whose work, Toward the Abyss, was translated into Turkish and performed on stage in Istanbul, back in 1912, says Prof. Huseyin Mevsim, a scholar of Turkish-Bulgarian cultural and literary relations. He sat down for a BTA interview after an exhibition opened in BTA's Ankara press club of posters of Bulgarian plays which he has translated for the Turkish stage.

“It was long believed that Yordan Yovkov’s comedy The Millionaire was the first Bulgarian play staged in Istanbul, in 1941. But that’s not quite accurate,” said Prof. Mevsim, a literary historian, author, translator, and lecturer at Ankara University.

Born in Bulgaria but based in Turkey since 1991, he has done more than anyone to introduce Turkish audiences to the works of modern Bulgarian authors like Atanas Dalchev, Stefan Tsanev, and Stanislav Stratiev, as well as older figures such as Mihail Madzharov, Konstantin Velichkov, and Chudomir. Thanks to his in-depth research over the years, he has uncovered many fascinating traces of Bulgarian culture in Istanbul - many of which had remained unknown until now.

“The first performance of a Bulgarian play on a Turkish stage in Istanbul dates back to 1912,” he explains. “For a long time, it was believed that ‘The Millionaire’ by Yordan Yovkov was the first Bulgarian play to be staged in Istanbul in 1941. Allow me to revise that timeline by moving it back thirty years. The first Bulgarian playwright to be translated and staged in Turkish was Ivan Vazov, with his historical drama ‘Toward the Abyss’ (Kum propast).”

It turns out that Turkish audiences were introduced to Vazov’s Toward the Abyss thanks to a member of the Ottoman Parliament (Meclis-i Mebusan), the predecessor of Turkey’s modern legislature.

“At a performance of Toward the Abyss at the National Theatre in Sofia on April 27, 1910, a young Turkish man sat in the front row,” Prof. Mevsim continues. “This was Ahmed Salih Bey, a member of the Ottoman Parliament. He enjoyed the play and declared that it would be translated into Turkish for the stage in the imperial capital. The Sofia newspaper Den wrote on May 2, 1910 that Toward the Abyss would interest audiences in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), not only because of its dramatic scenes but also because its subject matter is closely tied to Turkish history.

Ahmed Salih Bey kept his word, and by late February 1912, Toward the Abyss was staged in Istanbul. According to the Sofia newspaper Rech (of February 28, 1912), “The performance stirred much curiosity and was a complete success.”

Yet Prof. Mevsim believes that theatrical ties between Bulgaria and Turkey began even earlier than 1912.

“They actually date back to 1872, when the play Svetoslav and Nevyanka was performed before an audience of 2,000 in the Osmaniye Theatre in the Gedikpasa district,” he explained. The play was written by Konstantin Velichkov, who was then just 17 years old and studying at the prestigious Galatasaray Lyceum in Istanbul. Velichkov also played one of the lead roles. Among the audience was Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, a prominent Turkish politician and historian who was born in the Bulgarian town of Lovech and who authored a 12-volume history of the Ottoman Empire. After the performance, the distinguished statesman shook Velichkov’s hand and told him he understood everything and was able to follow the plot very well.

According to Turkish sources, the Osmaniye Theatre - believed to have been built in 1859 in Gedikpasa (modern-day Fatih, Istanbul) - was demolished in 1884. It played a crucial role in the development of theater in the Ottoman Empire. It was the first stage where Muslim actors of Turkish origin performed, where the first Western plays translated into Turkish were staged, and where original Turkish plays by prominent authors were performed.

It was on that very stage that Velichkov’s Svetoslav and Nevyanka was performed over 150 years ago.

Prof. Mevsim listed Bulgarian playwrights whose works have been translated into Turkish: Dobri Voynikov, Ivan Vazov, Stefan L. Kostov, Yordan Yovkov, Georgi Dzhagarov, Ivan Radoev, Nikolay Haytov, Yordan Radichkov, Stefan Tsanev, Nedyalko Yordanov, Konstantin Iliev, Rada Moskova, Keva Apostolova, Hristo Boychev, Elin Rahnev, and Alexander Sekulov.

“The most translated author is Stefan Tsanev, with seven plays; followed by Hristo Boychev with five, and Stanislav Stratiev with four. The production that received the most media attention is The Other Death of Joan of Arc by Tsanev, staged at Oyun Atolyesi in Istanbul. Reviews of that production, published in specialized theater journals as well as in major newspapers like Cumhuriyet, Hurriyet, Milliyet, Posta, and Sabah, could easily fill a full volume,” he added.

Looking ahead to the new theater season in Turkey, two Bulgarian plays are set to premiere at leading private theaters in Istanbul: The Other Death of Joan of Arc by Stefan Tsanev, and The Murder of Gonzago by Nedyalko Yordanov.