Our university’s Faculty Member, Head of the Department of Fine Arts Drama and Acting, Prof. Mehmet Birkiye, has been selected as the “Most Successful Director of the Year” for the 2021-2022 Theatre Season by NoTiyatro through a voting process for his production of “The Cherry Orchard” within the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality City Theatres.
Prof. Mehmet Birkiye directed “The Cherry Orchard,” written by the Russian author Anton Chekhov, which was staged by the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality City Theatres. The play, which received high praise from audiences in Kocaeli, was also performed in Istanbul.
The play “The Cherry Orchard” is a poignant portrait of an aristocratic family struggling to adapt to the changing social, political, and economic order of the country in the mid-19th century, following the abolition of serfdom and the rise of the bourgeoisie. Their family estate, which includes a large cherry orchard, is facing sale due to debts. Unable to act decisively in the face of the new order, the family is unable to hold onto their property. The cherry orchards, along with the farm owners’ childhood memories, are now a thing of the past.
