by Yade Yasemin Önder and Glossy Pain
at the Volksbühne Berlin
Berlin 2023
DIE MASQUERADEN DES D. OREGAN
A play by Yade Yasemin Önder & Glossy Pain
Inspired by the graphic novel "Erdoğan" by Can Dündar and Anwar
In the near future in an important German city. The renowned Schaumspielhaus is making headlines. With his reactionary methods, the director Ar Baken is driving the enlightened generation onto the streets. Since then, ongoing protests have taken the scene in front of the theater.
The aspiring director D. Oregan wants to write theatre history. The director Ar Baken gives him the unique opportunity to stage a play at his notorious theatre in order to clean up the image of the Schaumspielhaus. But D. Oregan is not satisfied with that. He skilfully manipulates everyone from the ensemble members all the way to the management. While everyone seems to be falling into his traps, D. Oregan is making his way to the top: the throne of the director.
Inspired by Can Dündar and Mohamed Anwar's graphic novel "Erdoğan", the Glossy Pain collective, together with the author Yade Yasemin Önder, deals with power (abuse), manipulation and fanaticism - whether in politics, theatre or the beauty industry, the boundaries seem to be as fluid as a good moisturizer on the skin.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tried his hand at directing, writing and acting in the early 1970s and adapted the anti-communist script "Kızıl Pençe" ("Red Claw") into the play "Mas Kom Yah". The play was a huge success in Turkey. Erdoğan was even able to perform it in front of his idol at the time and later political mentor Necmettin Erbakan, who cheered him on enthusiastically before turning his back on him decades later.
