Ayla Algan's final words revealed

Theater artist Ayla Algan has passed away in Istanbul at the age of 86. Kamil Kellecioğlu, General Artistic Director of Tiyatro Frankfurt and one of the last people to speak with Algan by phone, spoke to 12punto. Here are Algan's final words before she passed away...

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The final words of Ayla Algan, who passed away following a brain hemorrhage, have been revealed.

Kamil Kellecioğlu, General Artistic Director of Tiyatro Frankfurt, who worked with Algan for many years, stated: "She fell ill while teaching students. Later, she could not be saved. If she had lived, she would have supervised my play 'Boş Çerçeve' (Empty Frame), but it was not meant to be. We will dedicate the 11th Frankfurt Turkish Theater Festival to her."

'I WILL FIGHT UNTIL MY LAST BREATH'

Kellecioğlu, one of the last people to speak with the master actress on the phone, said: "She had used expressions such as, 'I really want Turkish Theater to exist in Europe. I will fight for this until my last breath.'"

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS ANNOUNCED

The funeral arrangements for Ayla Algan, who passed away following a brain hemorrhage, have been finalized.

A ceremony will be held for Ayla Algan, who taught at the Istanbul Drama Art Academy until the end of her life, on Saturday, January 6, at 10:30 AM at the IMM City Theaters Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage.

The artist's funeral will be laid to rest at Aşiyan Cemetery following the funeral prayer to be held at Teşvikiye Mosque after the noon prayer.

WHO IS AYLA ALGAN?

Ayla Algan was born in Istanbul on October 29, 1937. In her childhood, she took piano, ballet, and singing lessons. She continued her piano education, which she began at age 5, for 11 years until she went to France for high school.

She attended middle school at Notre Dame de Sion in Istanbul and high school at Lycée de Versailles in France. She married Beklan Algan (1933-2010), whom she met while continuing her high school education. The artist, who received stage training in America at the New York Actor Studio Actor’s Repertuary Theatre of Broadway together with her husband Beklan Algan, joined the Istanbul City Theaters staff after returning to Turkey and played her first role in theater in 1961 with the play 'Tarla Kuşu' (The Lark).

In the same year, she took part in the play Hamlet; she portrayed the character of Hamlet despite it being both Ophelia and a male role. For this reason, she was referred to as the 'Male Hamlet'. In 1965, she was deemed worthy of the İlhan İskender Best Actress Award for the play 'The Physicists', but she turned it down on the grounds that theater is a collective art.

In 1966, she left the City Theaters following the resignation of Muhsin Ertuğrul and for a time gave theater teaching and actor training lessons at the LCC Language and Culture Center Theater School. Valuable actors and directors such as Macit Koper, Taner Barlas, Cezmi Baskın, Meral Çetinkaya, and Rutkay Aziz emerged from here.

Algan, who took the stage at Paris's famous concert hall Olympia in 1971, participated as a guest in Peter Brook's Theater Workshop at the Recamier Theater, directed by Jean L. Bazault, in Paris in 1972.

She lived in Paris between 1972 and 1979 and was interested in music. In 1972, at the request of the Ministry of Tourism, she prepared an album for the 650th anniversary of Yunus Emre. She named her daughter, who was born in 1975, 'Sevi', inspired by Yunus Emre.

Algan, who received the second-place award by singing an anti-war song at the International Golden Orpheus Song Contest in Bulgaria in 1973, was deemed worthy of the UNICEF Honorary Award. In 1977, she won first place in the world at the Poland Sopot Festival with a song about the problems of the Oda Indians.

She went to Berlin in 1980 and performed worker theater for four years at the Schaubühne Theater with artists such as Tuncel Kurtiz, Şener Şen, and Macit Koper. In 1984, she founded the BİLSAK Theater Workshop with colleagues such as Erol Keskin, Beklan Algan, Prof. Cevat Çapan, Taner Barlas, Ahmet Levendoğlu, Macit Koper, Haluk Şevket, Yekta Kara, Müge Gürman, Metin Deniz, Ergüder Yoldaş, Prof. Süleyman Velioğlu, and Oben Güney.

In 1988, she founded the Theater Research Laboratory (TAL) together with Beklan Algan, Erol Keskin, and Haluk Şevket Ataseven, and contributed to the training of young theater actors by signing many experimental projects there. She also served as Deputy General Artistic Director at the Istanbul City Theaters in 1996.

She retired from the City Theaters after acting in the play 'Aşk Hastası' (Love Patient) by Şeyh Galip, which Kenan Işık staged at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theaters in the 1999-2001 season.

Ayla Algan acted in dozens of films such as 'Seni Seviyorum Rosa' (I Love You Rosa), 'Harem Suare', and 'O da Beni Seviyor' (He Loves Me Too), and various TV series such as 'Biz Size Aşık Olduk' (We Fell in Love With You), 'Üzgünüm Leyla' (I'm Sorry Leyla), and 'Aliye'. She also provided acting coaching to famous actors with her 'Creative and Contemporary Theater Techniques' course.

As both a theater instructor and narrator for the Koroporte Art Group, she took part in Koroporte's 'Carnival of the Animals 2005-2006-2007' and 'Pictures at an Exhibition 2007-2008' shows staged at İş Sanat.

In 2011, she undertook the General Artistic Directorship of the Istanbul Drama Art Academy, as well as the roles of instructor for the "English Theater Certificate Program" and "Cinema-Theater Acting Workshop," which are foreign language education using theater and creative drama methods.

News Source: 12punto