CAST  
 
Jacques (As You Like It) ZÜLFÜ KAPLAN  
 
Zulfu Kaplan is a theatre artist working in London and Hertfordshire since 2010. He trained in the UK (Central School of Speech and Drama), and has a background in dance and physical theatre. Originally from Turkey, he has been living in the UK permanently since 2010. His experience covers TV, film and theatre work in both English and Turkish productions. He is fluent in Turkish and English with some experience of Kurdish voice-over work in UK productions. In his free time, his interests include: photography, creative carpentry, bird keeping and all sports, with a focus on running, cycling and swimming. 
 
 
Edmund (King Lear) GÖZDE IŞIK 
 
Gözde first started acting when she was at university, at a children’s theatre company. After graduating from English Language Teaching department, throughout her teaching career, she ran English/Turkish drama and short film clubs, contributing to those schools she worked for with various significant awards both regional and national. She completed her acting degree at Kadıköy Fine Arts School in 2015 and moved to London with her family in the same year. Since then, still working as a teacher, Gözde has participated in Arcola Alaturka in November 2019 with Bahar Noktası.  
 
 
Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) GÜLİSTAN SARBAS 
 
Gülistan Sarbas completed her acting studies at Pera Fine Arts. She started her acting career at Atölye Theatre, then worked at Nü Kollektif and Theatre Pera. Gülistan participated in many television and film projects in Turkey; Kanıt, Lale Devri, Harem, Azad, Sihirbazlık Okulunda Bir Türk, Ciran Ciran are among the films she has been in.  She moved to the UK in March 2017, took part in Seven Husbands of Hurmuz and Deli Dumrul with Arcola Alaturka and continues her acting career acting in Turkish and Kurdish. 
 
Launcelot Gobbo (Merchant of Venice) SEMRA TEKİN 
 
Semra was born and raised in Izmir and has a degree in economics. She was involved in the theatre course by “Boyoz Academy” also in Izmir. After that she attended a drama course in “Izmir Contemporary Drama Association” and acted in a short film about Syrian Refugees. She moved to London 3 years ago. 
 
King Lear (King Lear) TUNCAY AKPINAR 
 
Tuncay has been on the stage since 1998. He has been in numerous plays at Arcola, Saddlers Wells, Milfield Theatre, London Center Stage as well as in Turkey, at Talimhane, Bakirkoy Yunus EmreCultural Centre and Kadir Has University. He has played in several films and sitcom episodes as well as short films (sarapnel 34) and he produced his own short films as well.  
 
Caliban (The Tempest) SEDA ÇELİK 
 
Between 2007 and 2011, she was part of GKST amateur theatre group and she was an actor in many poetry performances and musical comedies such as Zilli Zarife (Shrewish Zarife), Feast of Madness (Deli Bayrami), Television Republic (Televizyon Cumhuriyeti) which are by Haldun Taner and Turgut Ozakman. She has also performed with Arcola Alaturka Creative Disruption Destivals on Yedi Kocali Hurmuz and A Midsummer Nights Dream. 
 
Katherine (Taming of the Shrew) ESER RÜZGAR 
 
Eser’s career began as a writer at Milliyet Arts, trainer and critic and has been in London since 2018. She teaches drama lessons and manages plays. She is a member of the International Association of Critics. She studied performative staging and acting at Şahika Tekand Studio Players. She played in short films and lastly on the play `Mor` in 2018 as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Arcola Creative Disruption Festival in 2020. 
 
Shylock (Merchant of Venice) DENİZ OKÇU 
 
Originally from Turkey/Ardahan Deniz grew up in Istanbul. He owns a coffee shop in London. His first performance was A Midsummer Night's Dream (2020). He loves theatre and he wants to be performing actively, going forward. 
 
Prospero (The Tempest) ÖZLEM TAŞ 
 
Özlem Taş graduated from Ankara University, acting department in 2007.  She was an actress and assistant director of the theatre group called “Theatre Deng u Bej” which she is one of the founders of. She was the manager and art board member of Fulya Art Centre. Throughout her professional career, she took part in many groups and theatre stages such as Van State Theatre, İstanbul State Theatre, Galata Perform, Şermola Performance and Moda Sahnesi. She has been acting for tv series, advertisements, films and she has also been successful at presenting TV programmes and dubbing. As well as a voiceover artist, she is also a drama teacher and a director. Besides being an actress, she has done all her work in both Kurdish and Turkish. She has been based in London since March 2019. 
 
Hamlet (Hamlet) TUANA ARAYICI 
 
Tuana started theatre under the supervision of many artists such as Aysen Gruda and Volkan Severcan at the Haldun Dormen Stage in Istanbul/Turkey. She continued her education at Kadikoy Public Education and Mujdat Gezen Art Center and played various roles. Afterwards, she played a role in the collective musical called "Salute to the Musicals" directed by Haldun Dormen for a year.  After that she won a place at the Acting department of Halic Conservatory. Following one year of education there, she entered Bulent Ecevit State Conservatory and graduated from there. 
 
Creatives  
 
Adapted & directed by NAZ YENI 
 
Naz Yeni has been involved in all aspects of theatre/performance making as an actor and director since 1990s. She trained classically in Ankara State Conservatoire in Turkey and Birmingham School of Speech and Drama in the UK. Her acting credits include City of Birmingham Touring Opera and Lady Macbeth for Creation Theatre Company in Oxford. Her directing credits include Turkish State Theatres and Arcola Theatre’s Creative Disruption festival. As a theatre-maker, she has re-trained herself as a physical performer and she is especially interested in the ensemble tradition, devising, site-specific theatre and story-telling.  Alongside directing, she teaches drama and movement as well. She is also an academic researcher with a doctorate in theatre studies. 
 
Editing by ASLI TOKMAN 
 
Asli is currently continuing her Masters degree in Film at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, after attending seminars and workshops on film and screenwriting at Istanbul Film Academy, Plato Film School & Istanbul Digital Film Academy. She wrote, directed and produced her short film Roza’ Cat in 2017, which was selected for four short film festivals in Turkey and Italy and was awarded “Best Original Screenplay of a Short Foreign Language Film” at Milan IFF 2018. She has been a marketing professional since 2001 at Gilette, P&G, Ulker and GSK Consumer Healthcare working as EMEA Marketing Director.  
 
Dramaturgy by Stephanie Tillotson 
 
Stephanie gained a distinction in the MA Shakespeare and Theatre at the Shakespeare Institute and is now a doctoral student in the English Department, University of Warwick. Her research is an analysis of the contemporary theatre practice of female cross-gender playing in twenty-first century Shakespeare in performance. This year, her chapter ‘From Gimmick Casting to Standard Practice’: Re-gendering Shakespeare in Performance,’ will appear in Palgrave’s collection, Analysing Gender in Performance.  She has published in the professional journal Teaching Shakespeare and has presented at many conferences (including the 2018 British Shakespeare Association conference, the 2019 Stratford, Ontario Theatre Conference, Canada and the 2019 Infinite Variety conference, Christ Church, University of Oxford ), and published articles and book reviews.  During her time at Warwick, Stephanie has been the lead researcher on the Humanities Research Centre sponsored research project ‘Sidelights on Shakespeare’.  She continues to work as a performer, director, writer and teacher. 
 
Music by JAN ÇITAK 
 
Jan Citak started music in primary school. After playing guitar for three years, he studied at Istanbul Technical University State Conservatory and London College of Music. He performed for many projects as a bassist and guitarist. He has toured at venues, live music clubs, major concert halls, and festival stages. As a multi-instrumentalist he performs with bass guitar, double bass, electric, and acoustic guitar, baglama, piano, in both live and studio sessions. Working on many different musical styles and genres enriched his musical knowledge and range. Jan Citak is currently working as a musician, composer, producer arranger for radio jingles, teasers, short movies. 
 
Singing by HÜSEYİN ERDOĞAN 
 
Started theatrical performances as an amateur actor at Adana Community Centre and City Theatre. He graduated from the department of Voice of the Çukurova State Conservatory He has been living in London for a long time He has taken part in many plays. films and projects since 1990s. He also writes poetry. 
 
 
Poster Design by CAN AKSOY 
 
Can Aksoy is a Turkish-born architect, multidisciplinary artist, and director, known for ‘Silencio’ (2018). He has a BA in Architecture from Middle East Technical University (ODTU) and an MA in Advanced Architectural Design from Oxford Brookes University (Oxford, the UK). He currently resides in London, the United Kingdom, where he owns and operates SCA Studio Can Aksoy. The Studio’s practice is centred around designing abstract and cinematic narrations and visualizing alternative realities; from concept ideation and art direction, to prototyping and production. Influenced by abstract expressionism, avant-garde, and genre cinema, Can Aksoy writes, directs, and produces short films and video art works. 
 
Image by BERRIN BUGAY LAWLER 
 
Berrin studied Fashion Design at Art school. She has worked from 2013 to 2016 as the Creative Director of Cambridge Style Week. In 2015 with the contribution and support of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Turkish Embassy in London, she curated the Ottoman Show Project presenting the centenarian historic dresses from Turkey. Her most recent creative works include costume designs for Arcola Alaturka in London , "7 Husbands for Hürmüz" in April 2018 and "Wild Dumrul"  in March 2019 as well as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2020. She is still organising international cultural events. 
 
 
Production Assistant BORA BICAKCI 
 
Bora started at Muhsin Ertuğrul Children Theatre Courses and has been on stage during early school times. He has been involved with Arcola Alaturka since 2014. 
.