German theatre actor says he enjoyed interacting with people in the city

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

Turkish-German actor Tuncay, who performed a play at the Ranga Shankara theatre recently, has fond memories of the city and its residents. He said the audience who watched the play was very receptive.

Tuncay performed a play called ‘Sag Mal’ (German for ‘Tell Me’), which was a silent play meant for children over two years of age. It was enacted by the troupe Ceren Oran and Moving Borders. However, the playwright and actor Oran was not unavailable, which necessitated a substitute. Sag Mal is a three person play.

Apart from Tuncay, who performs as an actor and a percussionist in the play, the performance included Rhoni Sagi and Paula Niehoff. “We had a very nice performance. We got a lot of good resonances here in Bangalore and we loved playing in Bangalore. Ranga Shankara theatre is a wonderful place. They’re nice people, who supported us a lot. Also, the audience was great, including the children, the parents and everyone else,” Tuncay said.

“It was a very short visit, but it was very nice. I would love to come again to Bangalore,” he added. The Munich native said that he visited some of the well-known tourist attractions in the city, but added that he enjoyed interacting with people more than exploring the city.

“I went to Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park. I came three days early because I didn’t want to make the stay too short. I had a chance to stroll around the city,” Tuncay said. “For me, it is about meeting people. I love to meet people everywhere I go. In Bangalore, I’m not about the highlights of the town. It’s more about the people. I met a lot of people on the streets. This is the most interesting aspect of the city,” Tuncay added.

The percussionist said that the play was meant for young children and to demonstrate to them that it was possible to acknowledge each other’s differences and still get along. “It’s a nonverbal play and is meant for children aged between two and six years. We don’t talk at all. It includes three actors. I act and make music. We also have two dancers, one male and the other female. It’s about different ways of living life. One is very slow and not hectic at all. The other one, the woman is very fast and impatient and she wants everything at once,” he said.

“They meet each other in the play. I’m a translator of sorts who makes them understand each other. This is the story of two different people meeting and learning to communicate with each other,” Tuncay said. “If it’s a children’s story, you have to tell it in half-an-hour because small children don’t have the patience,” he added.

He clarified that though his experiences as a minority in Germany did shape his art, the play wasn’t about the communication gap some Turkish-German minorities may have experienced in the country.