Perishable Harem
Perishable Harem was performed in the Wallis Theatre, February 15-16, 2002. It was conceived, adapted, and directed by Performance Studies PhD student Oyku Potuoglu Cook, and featured Performance Studies undergraduate majors Rebecca Knickmeier, Ana Teixeira (BS 2002), and Cheley Young (BS 2002), as well as Sarah Boscak and Jennifer Lynn Probst.
Perishable Harem was adapted from the "Turkish Embassy Letters" of Lady Montagu, an 18th century British traveler in Istanbul who became one among many cherished Orientalists. She signed her letters "your traveler in wonder" and lived in awe of everyday life in the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), roaming through hot steamy Turkish baths, lurking behind the lattice windows to peek at the "half-naked" belly dancing harem girls, and witnessing many more "delights" of the East.
See a video clip of Perishable Harem.
The director's note:
I've always been fascinated with Lady Montagu's "infatuation" with the18th
century Ottoman Empire, especially its harems. Montagu, the wife of a
British ambassador to Constantinople (now Istanbul), didn't blink an eye
to conclude: "Turkish women are the freest in the world." As an Orientalist,
she perpetuated myths of Eastern delight. I long to expose them by
making harem women "perishable," three dimensional, just like Montagu
herself was.
Here, you'll see some loyalties in action. First, to my own heritage, colored
by extended family gatherings centered around belly dancing. Second, my
desire to deconstruct and reconstruct "the same old exotic Orient" in
general and Turkey in particular, all with a highly gendered and raced
critique. I've grown weary of that place where the East meets the West. Let us
ponder where they utterly fail to understand, or dance with each other.
