Who are Kavuklu and Pişekar?
Kavuklu and Pişekar are the main characters of the Orta Play, a Turkish folk theater piece of music and dance performed publicly in an open space without adhering to any written text.
In the Orta game, the comic type of the play is Kavuklu (Stupid Uşak), while Pişekar (Efendi) is the counterpart and also serves as the play’s narrator.
Pişekar is always an honest negotiator, a mediator who soothes disputes, settles resentments, a measured, dignified person who can shut up when he sees mistakes. He often uses the palace dialect and an elite language adorned with Persian words. Pişekar’s slapstick indicates that he is the master. Pişekar acts as an actor, director and author with slapstick in hand.
Wearing a stereotypical costume, Pişekar wears a four-color and four-part cone, a four-finger fur robe covered at the front and side of the collar, underneath a kilt, robe, or minivan of the same color, and on his feet are çedik shoes.
Kavuklu is the game’s main comic. He misunderstands Pişekar and reveals the funny situation.
The play, which reflects the problems of society and its environment, changes from criticism to comedy. Decor and costume are minimized. It has characteristics similar to the Tululat Theater that emerged at the end of the 19th century.
The middle piece, which lost its importance due to the adoption of a Western-style understanding of theater, lost its last representative in 1973 with the death of İsmail Dümbüllü.
Pisekar Air
In the middle game, Pişekar comes onto the field first when the zurna player plays the Pişekar air; he greets everyone. He enters into conversation with the audience and the zurna player. While promising the audience entertainment, he wishes them a lot of fun.
Kavuklu Air
When the zurna plays the kavuklu air, kavuklu and kavuklu follow. After a very brief conversation between these two characters, Pişekar intervenes and the other two react suspiciously. Most often this reaction is that Kavuklu and Kavuklu’s backs fall on each other.
Medical bar
After the fall, the conversation or rhyme section between Pişekar and Kavuklu begins. In this episode, Pişekar and Kavuklu criticize the improvisational aspect of acting. After this section called Arzbar, the rhyme begins.
Children’s song
The Nursery Rhymes section is full of examples of surreal storytelling; These strange stories keep running through Kavuklu’s mind. Pişekar believes in the unreal event Kavuklu tells; At the end of the episode, Kavuklu explains the truth. The nursery rhyme ends when Pişekar hits the pastry on Kavuklu’s turban; then they go to the chapter area.
Chapter
In the chapter section, Kavuklu is mainly looking for a job; Pişekar gets him a job. Pişekar is the one who finishes the game. He apologizes to the audience and announces the name and location of the next piece.