conversations in ten questions 29 : Demian Vitanza

Organized by GalataPerform and being the first playwriting festival in Turkey, the New Text Festival was held for the tenth time this year between November 1st and 28th, 2021, with a hybrid structure focused on the theme of "Breath", both in the physical space and digitally. 

We hosted Demian Vitanza in the first of our conversations with international playwrights whose plays were translated into Turkish and staged and read at the festival.

Ayşe Draz & Mehmet Kerem Özel

© Tine Poppe

What is the essence of good play/playwriting in your opinion?

I believe a good play creates problems for the theatre. That is, a play which is able to force the producing theatre to rethink how a text should be staged. In the end, a good play challenges the audience to think or feel in new ways.

Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How?

I believe in the double role of comfort and disturbance. A wellknown saying goes: Art should disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. I think this is pretty accurate for what a single piece can achieve. But I don’t believe in big social transformation because of one piece of art. Culture is built slowly, brick by brick, work by work, and can easily get torn down. A strong culture built on an active art field enforces the social fabric by balancing critical thinking and trust in society.

How do you think that the pandemic that we are facing at a global scale did and will transform performing arts?

I hope we don’t stick to the new habits of consuming Netflix series and digital entertainment. But it’s a test. Can the performing arts prove they are worth the effort of a visit. I believe so.

Are there any artist whom you can describe as "my master", or any person whom you think influenced your art most? And if there is such an artist or person, who?

I prefer a pantheon of inspiring artists over monotheism when it comes to this question. I do, however, find a lot of inspiration in a Danish poet called Inger Christensen. She had the ability to dig deep into the human soul, but without resorting to sufferance as the only way to express human depth. I truly find it puzzling that she didn’t receive a Nobel prize for her excellent writing.

When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your works?

Every play and every novel I have written, has its own distinct genesis. I usually have some books, films or documentaries that I find particularly inspiring. When I wrote “Weight” I had just seen a documentary about astronauts who talked about “the overview effect”, which is the understanding of the world you get when you are up in space and gaze at the planet. On the other hand, I also studied plants and botany to look at the world from the exact opposite perspective. Hidden in the earth, as a seed, blind and yet with so much knowledge stored. I mentioned Inger Christensen on the above question. These perspectives are inspired by her. She wrote in an essay that she sometimes watches the weather report just to get a feeling of seeing the world from above. She also reminds the reader, in another essay, that a seed can be stored thousands of years and sprout as a healthy plant.

When do you decide to give a title to a work you are working on if it already does not have one?

I always struggle with titles. They often become weird. I have no wisdom to share on this question whatsoever.

Do you believe your works resonate more with your local culture/community or more universally?

As I am very nomadic by heart and write without a strong connection to Norway particularly, I believe they resonate more universally. But who says there has to be a difference? Sometimes very locally anchored stories have a universal appeal. After all, we are all human.

What are your main concerns when a play of yours is translated into another language since especially your plays are now translated into Turkish?

I have learned to not be too concerned. I’m very nerdy with languages, but I have to trust and let go. Usually, translations get better the more free the translator feels. Theatre and poetry need an artistic translation rather than an academic one. Turkish has a very strong advantage though, as it’s one of the most beautiful languages on the planet.

Can you please elaborate on the themes of your play Weight that was shared with us in the staged reading?

“Weight” is two monologues. The first has a girl on stage and the other monologue is by an elderly man. In both cases, the person talking on stage is just a medium. Someone speaks through them. Someone far away, who now looks at the planet from above in space or from deep down in the earth. On one hand the stories told are stories of a someone wanting to belong to this planet. Someone looking for meaning and hope in an ocean of despair. Love gives hope. But then, when love dissolves or is cut off by death itself, they are tossed into loneliness, out in space or back into the darkness of the soil. So the voices in the play speak from these perspectives. And hence they offer a new gaze at the human condition and the planet we share.

Which elements surprised you and which elements were just as you expected in the staged reading of your works by the participant artists of the New Text – New Theatre Festival in Istanbul?

I am really impressed by the efforts made by Galata Perform and the guys at the festival to translate and stage readings of the plays. I heard they made a change to “weight”, with two actors for each monologue, so one was speaking and the other was facing the audience in silence. The original idea was to have one person on stage who speaks a text not belonging to herself or himself. I’m curious how this variation worked, and wish I understood Turkish to get a better grasp of this interpretation. Maybe I should learn Turkish?

[The Turkish version of this interview was published on unlimited.]