The Limits of Cis Compassion: The sad trans experience and its others in contemporary Turkish theatre

Abstract

In the last decade, dramatic literature and theatre productions about trans women have become a significant part of Turkey's alternative theatre scene. These performances, pioneered by trans women, have been both celebrated and appropriated, with cis theatre makers often reshaping them within melodramatic conventions. Since the political ramifications of these theatrical productions are intricately linked to their narrative styles and genres, the employment of melodramatic portrayals presents emergent challenges for trans individuals, thereby culminating in a nuanced ‘transploitation’ of their narratives.

While the melodramatic representations tell the stories of trans women's suffering and often end with the main character's death, the playwrights, actors, and the rest of the cast are almost always cisgender. Despite their popularity as well as aesthetic, social, and political significance, these plays have received limited scholarly attention. Moreover, the limited scholarship and public debates on them tend to treat their affective politics uncritically and even celebrate it. In the context of Turkey's liberal identity politics, these plays about trans women appear to challenge cis-heteropatriarchal oppression but ultimately reinforce cisnormative perspectives.

In contrast, one-actor plays by transfeminist performers and playwrights challenge these melodramas. Characterized by themes of hope and resistance, transfeminist performances offer a contrast to mainstream portrayals of trans experience. These plays challenge the prevalent sadness in mainstream narratives about trans women, offering more empowering and representative portrayals. This juxtaposition sheds light on how sadness facilitates the experience of compassion, which both legitimizes and limits the performances about trans women.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This article is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC-2019-STG, STAGING-ABJECTION, Grant agreement ID: 852216).