Comic Routines of the “Traditional” and the Text in Turkish Theatre

This study examines the relationship between Turkish theatre and text by questioning conventional historiographical frameworks that classify certain models as “traditional” and define them as anonymous, improvised, and fundamentally textless in opposition to authored, written, and dramatic literature. It argues that such classifications and binaries obscure the oral and literary features through which textuality operates in Turkish theatre. Focusing on Karagöz, orta oyunu, meddah, and village...