Audiences

The profile of audiences in Turkey is very diverse. What kind of audience comes to see a play depends for a large part on the genre of the play. In the 1960s and ‘70s there was a large audience especially for the theatres in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. But after the coup d’état in 1980 many theatres were affected, and so were their audiences. In the 1990s and after 2000 the appearance of internet and the growth of TV channels also rapidly affected the theatres and the number of their audience.

Nowadays the audience mostly prefers to go to the National and Municipal theatres because of the low price of the tickets. (Unlike the foreign equivalent of these theatres – the European State Theatres and National Theatres). The audiences of the National Theatres are mostly civil servants and people from the middle class. This especially counts for Ankara. The Municipal Theatres supported by the Istanbul Municipality, however, also have an appeal to an audience from lower socio-economic classes. This is largely due to the fact that they have stages in different parts of Istanbul. Especially the stages in Gaziosmanpaşa and Umraniye, where mostly emigrants from Anatolia live, show this appeal.

Private theaters, which mostly produce musical plays, vaudevilles and popular comedies, mostly appeal to higher classes. This is comparable to private theatres in London and Paris. Businessmen and people of the higher class see these theatres as a form of entertainment.