Mehmet Ergen is a Turkish theatre director, producer and entrepreneur, currently based in

London Borough of Hackney The London Borough of Hackney ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in Inner London, England. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street, which lies north-east of Charing Cross. The borough is named after Hackney, Lond ...

Biography

After completing a nine-month acting course in Turkey, Mehmet decided to become a director. He put an ad in ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'' inviting applicants to join a new theater company, and began putting on plays in pub theaters. Soon after, Ergen co-founded the

Southwark Playhouse Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London with two venues, both located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations. History The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They ident ...

with Juliet Alderdice, Tom Wilson and Annabelle Harvey-Longmire in 1993. Ergen and his colleagues created the Theater after identifying possible areas in need for an accessible theater, which would provide its surrounding community with a hub for creativity. They converted a disused workshop into a theater space which quickly gained popularity, and by working closely with local teachers, the city council, businesses and government agencies, they were able to develop an innovative, free at source, education program. He was also the theatre's first artistic director between 1993 and 1999. Mehmet went on to become Associate Producer at the BAC (

Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in Theater, theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a ...

) from 1999 to 2001. While there he directed

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the ...

's ''

Treemonisha ''Treemonisha'' (1911) is an opera by American ragtime composer Scott Joplin. It is sometimes referred to as a "ragtime opera", though Joplin did not refer to it as such and it encompasses a wide range of musical styles. The music of ''Treemoni ...

'',

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

's ''

Lost in the Stars ''Lost in the Stars'' is a musical theatre, musical with book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson and music by Kurt Weill, based on the novel ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' (1948) by Alan Paton. The musical premiered on Broadway theatre, Broadway in 19 ...

'' and had a workshop performance of

Marc Blitzstein Marcus Samuel Blitzstein (March 2, 1905January 22, 1964), was an American composer, lyricist, and Libretto, librettist. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-Trade union, union musical ''The Cradle Will Rock'', directed by Orson Welles, ...

's ''

The Cradle Will Rock ''The Cradle Will Rock'' is a 1937 Musical theater, play in music by Marc Blitzstein. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles and produced by John Houseman. Set in Steeltown, U.S.A., the Bertold Brecht, ...

''. It was during this period he also founded The Grimeborn

opera festival This is an inclusive list of opera festivals and summer opera seasons, and music festivals which have opera productions. This list may have some overlap with Early music festivals, list of early music festivals. Opera is part of the Western clas ...

. The artistic director at the time, Tom Morris, asked Ergen to create something new and different from the normal operatic preconceptions in a manner similar to that of Tete-a-Tete of the Riverside Studios. '' Grimeborn'' was his creation, an opera and musical theater

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

that now runs yearly at

Arcola Theatre Arcola Theatre is in the London Borough of Hackney. It presents plays, operas and musicals featuring established and emerging artists. The theatre building, in the former Colourworks paint factory on Ashwin Street, Dalston, houses two studio ...

. In 2000, Ergen founded Arcola Theatre in the

with Leyla Nazli. They converted an old shirt factory while teaching in

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas i ...

, East London, into a fringe venue. Ergen acquired £5,000 of start-up money and sent invitations to all the actors and directors he knew to join him in a paint party. They even recycled cutting tables into benches for the audience. Ergen's role in the development of London theater has often been noted in the media. Arcola is known for its bold selection of plays; "a melting pot of classic revivals and new work … aspiring theater professionals make a beeline for it prepared to work there for less than a pittance; respectable touring outfits, such as the Oxford Stage Company and

Out of Joint Out of Joint is a British and international touring theatre company based in London. It specializes in the commissioning and production of new writing, interspersed with occasional revivals and classic productions. It was founded in 1993 by direct ...

, have been queuing up to use its cavernous main space and acquire a bit of its urban cred". Past productions have included

Peter Weiss Peter Ulrich Weiss (8 November 1916 – 10 May 1982) was a German writer, painter, graphic artist, and experimental filmmaker of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays ''Marat/Sade'' and '' The Investigation'' and h ...

's ''

Marat/Sade ''The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade'' (), usually shortened to ''Marat/Sade'' (), is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss. The work was firs ...

'' and David Farr's version of ''

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal '' The Russian Messenger'' in twelve monthly installments during 1866.

''. There were an estimated 30,000 visits in 2003.

Work in Turkey

In Turkey in 2003, Ergen put together a company and directed '' The Lieutenant of Inishmore''. The Turkish company had "a bit of a panic" about going ahead: some of the cast thought they should cancel as terrorists had bombed the city less than a month before. The recent bombs had come very close to the theater district and one of the actors from the country's National Theater was killed while he made his way to do a voice-over at a TV studio. Ergen was unapologetic about the play's content. However, he did stop the newspaper advertising campaign which was to have run teasing trails "Terror in the Theatre: Two Cats Blown Up". The Turkish Prime Minister appeared on stage, drunk at the time after spending the afternoon drinking raki, appealing to the people to return. The Kenterler Theater where it was staged had never shown a play containing so much swearing, and never one which even touched on terrorism. Ergen translated it himself, creating for the terrorists a mixture of rural idiom and street slang. At the time Ergen claimed he was likely to end up "either dead or with a sold-out show". Ergen has submitted a proposal for a social-realist program for theater in Turkey, to the British Council. He is now founder of Yeni Kusak Theatre in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

and runs Turkey's only new writing program Oyun Yaz with the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

. He established Arcola Istanbul in 2008, known as Talimhane Tiyatrosu (Training Room Theatre).

Awards

*Time Out Award for Outstanding Achievement *Peter Brook Empty Space Award (twice) *Time Out Award for Best Fringe Production *International Theatre Institute award for Excellence in International Theatre *Angela Carter Award *Equity Award for Best Studio Theatre

Director credits at Arcola

Sweet Smell of Success by John Guare and Marvin Hamlisch Mare Rider by Leyla Nazlı *''The Painter'' by

Rebecca Lenkiewicz Rebecca Lenkiewicz (born 1968) is a British playwright, screenwriter, film director, and former actress. She is best known as the author of '' Her Naked Skin'' (2008), which was the first original play written by a living female playwright to be ...

*''The Cradle Will Rock'' by

*'' Silver Birch House'' by Leyla Nazli *''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

*''

An Enemy of the People ''An Enemy of the People'' (original Norwegian title: ''En folkefiende'') is an 1882 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen that explores the conflict between personal integrity and societal norms. The play centers on Dr. Thomas Stockmann, w ...

'' by

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

*''Seven Deadly Sins'' by

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a ...

& Weill *''Release the Beat'' by J. Johnson/K. Lewkowicz *'' The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising'' by

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gda ...

*'' I Can Get It For You Wholesale'' by Jerome Weidman/

Harold Rome Harold Jacob "Hecky" Rome (May 27, 1908 – October 26, 1993) was an American composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theater. Biography Rome was born in Hartford, Connecticut and graduated from Hartford Public High School. Originally, he ch ...

*''Jitterbug'' by Bonnie Greer *''Chasing the Moment'' by Jack Shepherd * Mehmet directs extensively abroad in Israel, Ireland, Canada and Turkey.

References

*Arcola Theatre
Past productions
* Allfree, Claire

��

The Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

”, 1 May 2007 *Cavendish, Dominic

“

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

”, 9 January 2006. * Clapp, Susannahbr>
“

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

”, 30 November 2003

External links

*
Arcola Theatre Website Arcola Grimeborn Webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ergen, Mehmet Theatres in the London Borough of Hackney Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British people of Turkish descent British theatre managers and producers Turkish emigrants to the United Kingdom Turkish expatriates in the United Kingdom Turkish translators

Biography

Work in Turkey

Awards

Director credits at Arcola

See also

References

External links