A Dowry Agreement Play to Be Staged at the 30th Istanbul Theatre Festival

Written by Elif Özge, directed by Murat Daltaban, and starring Metin Akdülger, the play A Dowry Agreement will meet audiences as part of the 30th Istanbul Theatre Festival.

Cast and Venue of the Play

The poster has been released for A Dowry Agreement, written by Elif Özge based on archival work by Orhan Türker and directed by Murat Daltaban. Metin Akdülger is returning to the theatre stage with this play after a long break.

Staged at the Yeniköy Panayia Church, the production features Metin Akdülger alongside Gizem Güçlü, Selin Tali, Tan Temel, and Pınar Yıldırım.

Performance Dates

The play A Dowry Agreement will be presented to audiences at the Yeniköy Panayia Church on October 30-31 and November 1 as part of the 30th Istanbul Theatre Festival program.

After the theatre festival concludes, the production will continue to be staged at the Yeniköy Panayia Church with matinee and evening sessions.

Based on a Real Document

The production traces a real dowry deed drawn up in Yeniköy 129 years ago and focuses on the wedding night of May 28, 1897.

The agreement drawn up for the marriage of Koralia and Athanasios, a grocer from Paşabahçe, includes seventy Ottoman liras, towels, dresses, fur, a mirror, two lamps, and a chest.

The Connection Between Past and Present

Reopened after years, the document examines how the memory of a wedding night is reconstructed today, rather than strictly recreating 1897.

Women's hands, the rhythms of daily life, the sounds of the neighborhood, and the Panayia Church come together under the same narrative umbrella.

The Director's Original Approach

Murat Daltaban presents an original, site-specific direction that treats the venue not merely as a background, but as one of the fundamental layers of the narrative.

This approach carries the relationship established by the dowry between the past and the present to a much deeper dimension.