MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Van- 25-year-old Perinaz Delazy is a theatre player performing in Kurdish, her native language. She is one of the theatre players of the Tiyatro Mencel. We talked with her about her theater adventure.

Perinaz Delazy watched a theatre play with her elder sister when she was six years old and she was impressed by the theatre play. She came across theatre by chance but she grew up with it. She attended theatre courses and she managed to take the stage when she was 17 years old. After she began to perform in Kurdish; she began to love the theatre more. She says she feels free on the stage.

Stating that they had performed in theatre plays at the Berivan Culture and Art Center of the Van Metropolitan Municipality, Perinaz Delazy was fired after the appointment of a trustee to the municipality as mayor. She worked with other theatre players for months to find a place to perform. Then they founded ‘Tiyatro Mencel’ to perform theatre plays.

“We founded it with our own means. Everyone did something to found the theatre organization. Then we started to work. We performed the theatre plays in Kurdish. Citizens showed great interest in our plays because we performed them in their native language. We founded the Kurdish theater in Van by founding the Mencel. We organized festivals and workshops. The Mencel is a space not only for theatre but also for other artistic activities. We organized theatre tours in other cities. After opening the Mencel, the people of Van were proud of us and supported our works.

“The theater should be felt in the heart”

Stating that working in theatre in Turkey always is very hard, Perinaz Delazy said, “Working in theatre sector in Turkey always is very hard. But if you perform the theatre plays in Kurdish, it is harder. First, the audience didn’t want to come because they thought they couldn’t understand. But after they came and watched our plays, they like them. The theater should be felt in the heart.”

“We appear before the audience by performing online theatre plays”

Perinaz Delazy said they couldn’t take the stage for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “We haven’t taken the stage for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. We haven’t put the Kurdish theatre plays on the stage. We miss our audiences. It is necessary to find a way for theatre players and theatre lovers. We have appeared before the audiences by performing online theatre plays but in a limited way. Our only wish is to come together with our audience and stage our Kurdish plays as soon as possible.”