Harbiye open-air summer games begin with 'Phosphorescent Cevriye'

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theatres presents " Fosforlu Cevriye, " a play that has been met with great interest and sold out throughout the season. Written by Suat Derviş and etched in everyone's memory with its sincerity and joy, Cevriye takes audiences on a journey to the magical Istanbul of the 1930s and 1940s.

Adapted by Gülriz Sururi and directed by Yelda Baskın , the play stars Ayşe Günyüz Demirci, Besim Demirkıran, Binnur Şerbetçioğlu, Direnç Dedeoğlu, Esra Ede, Çağatay Palabıyık, Elif Verit, Emre Yılmaz, Hakan Örge, Irmak Örnek, Nur Saçbüker Otan, Samet Silme, Tuğrul Arsever, Yağmur Damcıoğlu Namak, Yunus Erman Çağlar, and Zeynep Ceren Gedikali. Tickets for the play, which will be staged at 21.00 on 15, 16, 17 August 2025, are on sale.

ABOUT THE GAME

Cevriye, who believes she was born from the stars of the sky because she didn't know her parents, grew up as a street child in the lap of the sea, and practiced "art" to make ends meet in the Galata neighborhood, is no ordinary street girl; she is, in fact, the very streets of Istanbul. That night, as she nears death from illness and cold, she clings to life and a deep love thanks to a mysterious man she encounters. This man, unlike any man Cevriye has ever known and who addresses her as "you," is actually a death row inmate living in secret. From the day she met him, Cevriye became a completely different person. Despite imprisonment, exile, the passage of time, and various hardships, Cevriye will not give up on this love and will risk everything for her beloved.

The play presents richly depicted Istanbul in the 1930s and 1940s. The relationships between women, mothers, children, and young men struggling to survive in neighborhood backstreets, prisons, and joints, and the authorities are told through striking stories.

When Suat Derviş returned to Türkiye in the early 1960s, he was going through a difficult period, politically, professionally, and financially. He submitted his novel "Fosforlu Cevriye" to publishing houses, but unfortunately, he was rejected every time. Suat Derviş's greatest desire was to see this work adapted into a musical, rather than simply published. The first person he contacted was the young actress Gülriz Sururi. Gülriz Derviş's wish was to stage the play at the City Theater.