Commemorative Hospitality in Documentary Theatre: Revisiting the Collective Memory in Genco Erkal’s Sivas 93

Abstract

Focusing on Sivas 93 (2008), a Turkish documentary play by Genco Erkal, this paper is going to explore the construction of hospitality with victimized individuals and communities, especially those who are dead and absent, through commemoration in documentary theatre. The manifestation of hospitality on stage, in which ‘the host / the sovereign’ turns into the ‘hostage’ of ‘the guest / the foreign / the deviant’ as Derrida elucidates in Of Hospitality, contributes to the development of alternative responses to the mainstream media and its impact on collective memories. In this regard, while the reinterpretation of collective memories is a fundamental function of documentary theatre, my goal is to explore how Sivas 93 as a documentary play develops its own methods to revisit the past. Commemorating the absent and victimized people through performance, the play not only refreshes the collective memory but also underlines the society’s ethical responsibility towards those who have been symbolically displaced from home. 

Keywords

• Sivas 93
• documentary theatre
• collective memory
• hospitality
• mass media

Commemorative Hospitality in Documentary Theatre: Revisiting the Collective Memory in Genco Erkal’s Sivas 93

Abstract

Focusing on Sivas 93 (2008), a Turkish documentary play by Genco Erkal, this paper is going to explore the construction of hospitality with victimized individuals and communities, especially those who are dead and absent, through commemoration in documentary theatre. The manifestation of hospitality on stage, in which ‘the host / the sovereign’ turns into the ‘hostage’ of ‘the guest / the foreign / the deviant’ as Derrida elucidates in Of Hospitality, contributes to the development of alternative responses to the mainstream media and its impact on collective memories. In this regard, while the reinterpretation of collective memories is a fundamental function of documentary theatre, my goal is to explore how Sivas 93 as a documentary play develops its own methods to revisit the past. Commemorating the absent and victimized people through performance, the play not only refreshes the collective memory but also underlines the society’s ethical responsibility towards those who have been symbolically displaced from home.

Keywords

• Sivas 93
• documentary theatre
• collective memory
• hospitality
• mass media

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