|
|
A living legend of Turkish theater, Haldun Dormen continues running the marathon as director, actor, writer, and tutor. Even his young students could not catch up with him. Your dad sent you to Yale for theatrical studies. Did you have artists in your family? Haldun Dormen: I do not have any artists in my family, but I do believe that I was born into theater. My dad was a well-educated Cypriot businessman. We used to live in Sisli, so we went to see all the plays and concerts. My mother used to play the piano. I think that I was also influenced by the German movies that my German nanny used to take me to when I was a child. We learned that your dad changed his surname. Where does the surname Dormen come from? Haldun Dormen: It’s completely related with my dad’s practical businessman outlook. In fact, our original surname was Ender. Due to my dad’s business relations in America and England and the difficult pronunciation of Ender, he came up with Dormen, which is easier to pronounce. According to my dad it was the name of a Chinese commandant, but I believe that this is pure fantasy. How did you end up going to Yale? Haldun Dormen: My first appearance on stage was when I was a middle school student at Galatasaray High School. I had heard about Tunc Yalman and Sirin Devrim from Robert College. They used to act the leading roles in plays staged at Robert College. As my dad supported me in learning English, I chose Robert College for my high school education. Sirin Devrim and Tunc Yalman went to Yale University to study drama. In those days Yale was the only school where you could study theater. Applications were supported by letters of recommendation. I was accepted to Yale with the letters of recommendation from two American teachers. I did not want to share this with my dad face to face so I wrote him a letter. My dad replied to me with a very nice letter. He said that he would support me in pursuing my dreams, but on one condition. His condition was for me to become the best. 
Was your goal to become an actor when you were attending Yale? H. D.: I wanted to become a director. My dream was cinema. I was trained as a director as well as an actor. This is because the school believed that every director should have had experience in acting. When did you come back and what happened afterwards? H. D.: After having graduated with a master’s degree, I returned to Turkey in 1955 and first acted in Kucuk Sahne directed by Muhsin Ertugrul. Then, I founded Dormen Theater in 1957. In 1961, I put on a production of Sokak Kizi Irma (Irma, the Girl of the Street), which is regarded as the first musical staged in Turkey in a western style. Then I founded a film company and produced two films; “Corrupt System” and “For a Beautiful Day” in 1965. Both received awards, however, they did not make money. I did not follow a given set of rules. This was not appreciated by filmmakers, so I did not receive any help in distribution. What were the changes you made 
H. D.:For instance extras were paid better. I was shooting after 5 days of rehearsing. Most importantly I was shooting sound movies. Ekrem Bora and Belgin Doruk have both made a lot of films, but you can hear their real voices only in my films. The films certainly had downsides. However, they were the most famous movies of their time in respect of the script writing and style. For example, in Corrupt System we shot a ferry scene where nothing changed in the lives of the leading characters except their outfits. We used another unusual approach in the belly dancer scene. During those years it was very “in” to shoot a belly dancer scene. Every film had to have one. I also shot a belly dancer scene. It was performed by Ayfer Feray but we only shot her face during her dancing. There was also a funeral scene where Ismet Ay was gossiping, completely distanced from the crowd. These were all experimental in order to move away from the stereotypes.
You closed down Dormen Theater twice. What happened? H. D.: Due to the investments we made for the first two films, we lost all our profits until that point. When we were also hit by the economic crisis, we had to close the theater down in 1972. I continued to look ahead. I produced good work on television and worked as a columnist at Milliyet for seven years. Then, years passed and we opened the theater again in 1984. Another difficult period began with the economic crisis in 2001 and Dormen Theater went into the process of closing down for good. On March the 13th, 2006 we celebrated its 50th anniversary with a spectacular reception. In my opinion, Dormen Theater deserved the legacy it created during all this process. What made Dormen Theater become legendary? H. D.: Dormen Theater was the Dormen Actors’ Theater. All actors were in the front line, not only one name. No one acted the leading role all the time. It was a fully repertory theater, therefore, we trained a lot of people. That’s why it is now referred to as “The Dormen School." HALDUN DORMEN – FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES A TIRELESS TUTOR Having schooled hundreds of students, Haldun Dormen taught aspiring actors and actresss at his musical workshop in Istanbul last summer. Participants had the opportunity to act in scenes from popular national musicals such as Lukus Hayat (Luxurious Life), Hisseli Harikalar Kumpanyasi (The Joint Venture Company of Wonders), and Kesanli Ali Destani (Epic of Kesanli Ali) alongside the master actor as well as western musicals such as Phantom of the Opera, Kiss Me Kate and Les Misérables. Dormen will be holding his next workshop, to be organized by the Intersis Agency, in February. AN AWARD WINNING FILM DIRECTOR “Bozuk Düzen” (Corrupt System) / 1965-Dram Awards received at the 1966 Golden Orange Film Festival: Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Musfik Kenter) “Güzel Bir Gün Için” (For a Beautiful Day) (1965) - Comedy Awards received at the 1967 Golden Orange Film Festival: Best Comedy, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Erol Gunaydin) A TALENTED WRITER A screenplay writer in addition to being an actor and director, Dormen was a columnist for the Milliyet Newspaper for seven years. He has written three books so far: Sürç-ü Lisan Ettikse (Lapsus Linguae), Antrakt (Entr’acte) and Ikinci Perde (Act 2). Dormen currently writes about art as a columnist at the Aydinlik Newspaper. “I BROWSE FROM SHOP TO SHOP AT TERMINALS” Haldun Dormen has traveled to New York 51 times and to London 40 times in his life, mainly on business. Yet, he also likes vacations. He travels with a group of over 10 people, including people such as his sister Guler Yigit, Goksel Kortay and Mustafa Alabora. His latest trip was to Madrid on New Year’s Day. The group visits a different city every New Years; they plan to go to Kosovo this year. Dormen explains that he generally browses from shop by shop at terminals while waiting for his flight, buying gifts, books and magazines. |
Index
 TAGS:
|
| haldun-dormen | theater |