Recording
Necati Öziri
On March 19, 2024, our new series #Vorzeichen, curated by Dr. Maha El Hissy, opened with a conversation with author and playwright Necati Öziri. The event included discussion of Öziri’s recent debut novel Vatermal [Father’s Mark], as well as Öziri’s efforts to deconstruct classical canonical literary texts through contemporary theatrical restagings.
Necati Öziri reflected in his conversation with Maha El Hissy about the significance of the literary canon and its role in theater. For him, as an artist, the critical question becomes: What can these stories tell us here and now? Art should impact us both physically and emotionally. The canon continues to play an important role in theater today, but often now in the form of reinterpretations. This is particularly the case when it comes to Regietheater in Germany, where questions of “how” often take priority over questions of “what.” How can a canonical text be staged and what differing interpretations will this make possible? This also demands a certain familiarity and prior knowledge of the viewer, which inevitably also leads to exclusion.
In his work, Öziri purposely selects texts which he finds problematic—whether due to their sexism, racism, or other aspects entirely. In doing so, he concentrates on plays which remain anchored in our collective consciousness despite their problematic nature, for example, the works of authors like Wagner and Kleist. Öziri describes his own artistic approach as a correction, and an important aspect of this is the analysis of power dynamics within a text. Which figures are central to a story and which figures are mere representations? What motivations and psychologies are embedded in the characters? What stories remain untold? Nezati Öziri rewrites these stories from the perspective of the forgotten figures, hoping to lend depth to their positions. To do so helps free such texts from the sense of universalism often implied by their canonized positions, and repositions the authorial perspective as simply one of many—inviting others to provide their corrections, as well.
Necati Öziri’s debut novel, Vatermal is a work of correction, as well—but a correction of a play originally penned by the author, himself. In the original form, the stories of the two female characters, Ümran and Aylin, were too cursory. Vatermal flushes out the stories of both figures—mother and sister of the dying protagonist, Arda. During the writing process, Öziri feels such a strong connection to his characters that he isolates himself completely, preferring to listen to his characters and allow them to do as they please. This transforms them into three-dimensional characters rather than cliches: “Writing real people is a kind of antiracist work I can accomplish. And yeah, of course, I’m also writing about people in motion, people with unique stories, people who experienced the earthquake in Turkey, or whatever that specificity might be. But at the same time, I’m trying to relate universal human themes through their stories: sickness, old age, a father-son relationship.”
In his work, Öziri purposely selects texts which he finds problematic—whether due to their sexism, racism, or other aspects entirely. In doing so, he concentrates on plays which remain anchored in our collective consciousness despite their problematic nature, for example, the works of authors like Wagner and Kleist. Öziri describes his own artistic approach as a correction, and an important aspect of this is the analysis of power dynamics within a text. Which figures are central to a story and which figures are mere representations? What motivations and psychologies are embedded in the characters? What stories remain untold? Nezati Öziri rewrites these stories from the perspective of the forgotten figures, hoping to lend depth to their positions. To do so helps free such texts from the sense of universalism often implied by their canonized positions, and repositions the authorial perspective as simply one of many—inviting others to provide their corrections, as well.
Necati Öziri’s debut novel, Vatermal is a work of correction, as well—but a correction of a play originally penned by the author, himself. In the original form, the stories of the two female characters, Ümran and Aylin, were too cursory. Vatermal flushes out the stories of both figures—mother and sister of the dying protagonist, Arda. During the writing process, Öziri feels such a strong connection to his characters that he isolates himself completely, preferring to listen to his characters and allow them to do as they please. This transforms them into three-dimensional characters rather than cliches: “Writing real people is a kind of antiracist work I can accomplish. And yeah, of course, I’m also writing about people in motion, people with unique stories, people who experienced the earthquake in Turkey, or whatever that specificity might be. But at the same time, I’m trying to relate universal human themes through their stories: sickness, old age, a father-son relationship.”