AKSARAY, Turkey — In a state hospital in Aksaray, a small city in Turkey, 30 patients with schizophrenia have embarked on a new life thanks to an unusual therapy their doctor developed. Away from their families and society, withdrawn into themselves and tormented by false beliefs, the patients have performed 20 plays across Turkey over the past year as part of the innovative therapy, and many psychiatrists are closely watching. Along with its positive impact on the patients, the theater stage has served as a means to overcome fear and prejudices against schizophrenics in society.
The “Count Me In” troupe — the first comprised of patients with schizophrenia in Turkey — are expressing themselves through a play called “A New World Through a Schizophrenic Eye.” Everything on stage is improvised, allowing the actors full freedom of expression. There is no script, and their laughter, anger or weeping is all real.
The director of the project, Dr. Basri Koylu, also takes part in the show, which is an hour and a half long and features music and dancing. It ends with a monologue by the psychiatrist himself. Highlights of the show include solo performances of rap music or Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and even a white-clad performer doing his best to keep up with a professional whirling dervish performing to live music played by a traditional four-man band. Some patients participate by simply watching.
The opening scene takes the form of a quiz show. A young woman holds the microphone to another, asking, “Sabiha, who is Turkey’s president? Can you tell us?” Sabiha gives the right answer and everyone applauds her. After some more dialogue that sounds infantile or nonsensical, the play moves on to scenes that reveal the realities of the patients’ daily lives. In one scene, a patient speaks softly to another about dinner plans so as not to wake a sleeping child. Next, a village headman breaks the news to an anxious family that their soldier son has been killed. The mother of the fallen soldier cries, “My son is gone. What am I going to do now?” and faints. A neighbor tries to console her, saying, “Please don’t cry. He is in heaven now.” Later, the audience erupts into laughter over a scene depicting two women competing for one man's heart.
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