I sat down with Emre Arslanbek to find out more about My Ex-Lover Turkey coming to The Space Theatre this November as part of Voila! Festival.
Can you tell me a little about your show and what audiences can expect?
This show is about belonging, how far a person can go to feel they belong somewhere, and what home really means. It’s about the pleasure and the ache of belonging to two places at once. It’s an uplifting tragicomedy about an immigrant in Scotland who falls in love, tries to make Scotland his home, but finds that his own country never quite leaves him.
It’s also about the words we can’t translate, the words that mean so much in their original language, and the barriers that this creates between us. Audiences can expect a lot of fun, live music, dancing, and cultural elements from Scotland, Turkey and the wider UK. But above all, they can expect a story that, whether you’re an immigrant or not, you can relate to. A story about love, belonging, identity and the political climate we’re living in.
What drew you to this specific story?
It’s based on my personal experiences, but it’s not autobiographical. During my first year in Scotland, I was making friends and building a new life, but I kept questioning whether people really knew me or whether they only knew the façade I was presenting to blend in. I wanted to write a love letter to Glasgow and to Turkey, and I wanted to do it my way. I wanted to put into words something I couldn’t quite explain: that desperate desire to belong somewhere other than the place you originally called home.
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing this production to life?
The biggest challenge was probably finding a way to tell a story that could touch people’s hearts while keeping it light, playful, and full of music, all within a very simple stage design. We all know this story in one way or another, but perhaps we haven’t seen it told from this particular perspective. It was about finding the right balance between joy and pain, and exploring how we talk about the things that hurt us. Finding a theatrical form that could hold both the joy and the harsh truth at the same time was probably the most challenging part.
How does the design of your show (set, sound, or lighting) impact the presentation of your story?
This show relies heavily on storytelling. There’s only one chair on stage and a very simple lighting design. We wanted to move away from the idea of simply ‘watching a play’ and towards the idea of ‘creating a shared experience’. I also perform all the music in the show live on my saxophone. There’s something quite special about live music, both in its challenges and its spontaneity. The joy, the unpredictability and the relationship it creates with the audience add a whole new dimension to the performance.
If you could sum up the show in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?
If I could sum up the whole show in one word, it would be VUSLAT. It’s a word that means so much in Turkish but requires several carefully constructed sentences to explain in English. In a way, the whole story is about trying to explain that word and exploring what happens to us when we can’t quite find the words to express what we feel. But I think you really have to see the show to get the full sense of it!
My Ex-Lover Turkey runs at The Space Theatre, London, on 15 November. Tickets available at https://space.org.uk/event/my-ex-lover-turkey/
