A child genius grows up in a Turkey that keeps breaking her heart—and yours.
Yılmaz Erdoğan's lauded stage play traces the life of wunderkind Gülseren as she navigates social and political change.
Acting
Demet Akbağ's decades-spanning Gülseren is devastatingly precise.
Writing
Erdoğan's monologues disguise tragedy as charming anecdote.
Direction
Theatrical roots shine in intimate actor-audience conspiracies.
Director
Yılmaz Erdoğan
Demet Akbağ
Gülseren
Zerrin Sümer
İclal
Sinan Bengier
Kâfur / Tevgir Hoca
Salih Kalyon
Nazif
Yılmaz Erdoğan
Muhabir
Bican Günalan
Kürşat / Kiracı
Gürdal Tosun
Okul Müdürü
Serhat Özcan
Hâzım
Figen Evren
Sürme
Neslihan Yeldan
Maytap / Kiracı
Caner Alkaya
Servet / Hurşit Hoca
Can Kahraman
Dündar
Şebnem Sönmez
İzzet
Deniz Özerman
Nuran
Vural Çelik
Veli
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The play became a phenomenon in 1990s Turkey, with Erdoğan's touring company performing it over 1,000 times. It captured a nation processing rapid Westernization and political trauma through one woman's unreliable memories.
Gülseren's 'genius' is never verified—Erdoğan deliberately leaves her childhood feats ambiguous, forcing audiences to question whether we mourn a squandered prodigy or a woman who invented herself to survive.
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