Actors and actresses affiliated with the Association for İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theaters (İŞTİSAN) have staged a protest in order to express their uneasiness with the pressure being exerted on theaters across the city.Actors, actresses and association members came together on Thursday in front of İstanbul’s Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Theater to protest a statement issued by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat), which said that while the number of plays staged has increased sixfold, the number of spectators has decreased. İŞTİSAN board member Tolga Yeter said the theater is under serious pressure as a result. Union of Actors and Actresses Chairman Mehmet Ali Alabora also delivered a speech at the demonstration.
“We can present our skills only on stages and screens. The theater is our factory and we are the workers. The Union of Actors and Actresses will not let the number of theaters decrease,” said Alabora, adding that the union was established to protect the rights of actors and actresses.
A great number of actors, actresses and members from the Actors and Actresses Society and the İstanbul branch of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) attended the demonstration. They held up placards reading, “City theaters belong to the public!” and “Do not touch my theater!”
