Sözlü Edebiyat ve Gösteri Kültürünün Buluşma Noktası: “Meddah” Tek Kişilik Tiyatro

Sözlü edebiyat geleneği, İslam dünyasında tiyatronun tam anlamıyla gelişemediği ortamda bir telafi unsuru olarak gösteri kültüründe kendine uygun bir boşluk bulmuştur. Göçebe toplumunun yaşam tarzına uyum içinde, XI – XIX yüzyılları arasında hikaye anlatıcısından Türk geleneksel tek kişilik tiyatrosuna dönüşen meddah, Orta Asya şaman ve ozan geleneği ile Arap maddahları, Fars Şahname epik geleneğini içine alıp tiyatro ve drama unsurlarını benimseyerek, sözlü edebiyatı ve halk tiyatrosunu birleştiren bir sanat biçimi haline gelmiştir. Danişmendname, Battalname, Şahname gibi “kitap” anlamına gelen “namelerin” sözlü olarak yayılması sözselliği ve yazı kültür modelleri arasındaki karışık ilişkileri yansıtır. Doğu anlatım sanatından da esinlenen Avrupa’da “off tiyatrosun”a yeni yerleşmiş, storytelling olarak bilinen bir anlatım gösterisi kültürlerarası ve interdisipliner projelerde kendini kanıtlamış bir biçim olup oyuncu ve seyirci arasında eşitlik sağlayan bir tiyatro önerisidir.

Turkish One-Man Theatre Meddah: Oral Literature Meets the Performing Culture

In the Islamic world where theatre has not developed as an independent art form, it’s orality helped redress this imbalance finding room for itself among the performing arts. Turkish meddah has developed in accordance with the rules of nomadic life between the 11th and the 19th centuries from the storyteller to the one-man theatre. Absorbing the Central Asian shaman, singer of tales ozan, Arabic maddah and the epic tradition of Persian Shahname, it has also gradually assimilated theatre and drama elements. As an art form it combines orality with Turkish popular theatre. Books called “name” like Danishmendname, Battalname and Shahname, were spread orally and formed the basis of the repertoire of storytellers, as had been practised for centuries. This phenomenon reflects the complex interrelations between the “oral” and “written” culture models. As a new art form storytelling, considered as a narrative performance, has developed its position in contemporary European off theatre and has successfully proved itself in the arena of the intercultural and interdisciplinary projects. In this context of being a part of Altaic and Middle Eastern oral traditions, the performing potential of meddah art could be considered as a source of inspiration. It offers an example of a theatre model that provides equality between performer and the audience.

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