NUH 71/71 – Our Plane is About to Crash!
Please Unfasten Your Seatbelts and Prepare for the Fall!
Man: Where am I, I’m asking. Is there anyone else?
Woman: Shared thoughts. If I push my mind a little further, I might reach something… someone.
Man: A sign maybe, or a board in this or that language. I don’t know.
It would be good to know something.
Third Person: I must be suspended somewhere. Between earth and sky. Between reality and dream… In-between… On the plane. We were falling. And then here I am.
Somewhere on the edge of Europe, a plane crashes. Aboard flight NUH 71/71, three individuals find themselves in an undefined place at the moment of the fall. They are unaware of one another. For a long time, they struggle to make sense of this unfamiliar space. Have they died? Has time stopped? Has the world ended? Where are they? Named only as Woman, Man, and Third Person, the trio is structured to reflect the often-debated East/West dichotomy, while also amplifying a “neither-nor” alternative that deconstructs this binary.
The fall of the plane becomes a metaphor for an impending or ongoing collapse. The Last World seeks to interpret the concept of “the end” through the personas it brings together. Is ending possible? Can the world truly end, disappear? What does “end” really mean?
The audience is first placed in the setting of an airport and later immersed in the atmosphere of a crashing plane. The play premiered during the 15th International Istanbul Theatre Festival, and was later presented at the 2008 Bonn Biennale in Germany. The Last World serves as a reflection on the so-called clash of civilizations and the potential collapse/fall of the world in the post-9/11 era.
In The Last World, the performers are suspended in mid-air using a special rigging system, making the play a physically and performatively unique experience. Drawing structural inspiration from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, the text weaves together references ranging from tarot cards and the Qur’an to Indian, Turkish, Arab, and Persian cultures; from Shakespeare’s Richard III and Hamlet to Dante’s Divine Comedy, from Rumi and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex to the ghazals of Fuzuli, the poetry of Attilâ İlhan, Sevim Burak, utility bills, and even the world’s oldest known love poem—believed to have been written by a Sumerian priestess. These elements are subtly embedded within everyday language.
The play’s visual aesthetic is based on contemporary artist Genco Gülan’s series Everyday Mythologies, The Scream, and Whenever I Hear the Sound of a Plane, who also designed the stage installation.
And Other Things Collective received the 2007 Lions Public Jury Innovative Theatre Award for The Last World.
Written & Directed by: Yeşim Özsoy
Stage Installation: Genco Gülan
Costume Design: Burçak Ertem
Sound Design: John Plenge
Lighting Design: Enver Başar
Coordinator: Mark Levitas
Dramaturgy: Evren Erbatur
Assistant Director & Dramaturg: Pınar Yılmaz
Assistant Director: Dilek Altuntaş
Movement Direction: Tuğçe Ulugün Tuna
Movement Coach: Talin Büyükkürkçiyan
Technical Coordinator: Özer Arslan
Technical Team (Vertigo): Cemal Nadir Tekel, Cihan Kuşçu, Duygu Güngör, Pınar Kırılmaz, Serkan Dadak, Tuna Türkmen
Photography: Aylin Özmete
Cast
Woman: Perihan Kurtoğlu
Man: Ulgar Manzakoğlu
Third Person: Deniz Özmen
Narrator: Elif Ongan Tekçe
Pilot: Yıldıray Şahinler
Flight Attendants: Ege Maltepe, Ece Güzel, Yunus Emre Yıldırımer, Emre Yetim, Alper Saldıran
Supporting Institutions: Kuzu Airlines, Vertigo Industrial Climbing Systems, Yeni Melek Performance Center