Reimagined 19th Century Classic GELIN to be Presented at Canal Café Theatre
The cast includes Gunes Soysal playing the protagonist Aylin, Elif Gulalp in the role of Aylin’s British best friend Yaz.
An all-female creative team reimagines a classic 19th-century Turkish play about arranged marriage, swapping the Ottoman Empire for modern, multicultural London in Gelin.
Gelin (meaning Bride, in Turkish) is a hilariously chaotic, charming, and honest new play exploring the complexities women face across cultures, from family expectations to the fragile but powerful bonds of female friendships.
Gelin’s all-female creative team reimagine İbrahim Şinasi’s 1859 comedy, an ironic critique of arranged marriage practices, updating the setting to contemporary London. Giving a voice to the unheard female characters in Şair Evlenmesi (The Wedding of a Poet) in a professional production for the first time, the international cast reflect the experiences of London’s substantial diaspora population.
Themes from Şinasi’s piece, such as generational clashes, gender norms, cultural expectations, and matchmaking customs, find new resonance more than 160 years later in a fresh script that reframes the action with today’s pop culture, humour, and digital-first relationships.
When her overbearing mother arranges a marriage that she doesn’t want, Aylin sends her Best Friend in her place—only for it to backfire when her future husband falls for the imposter. Gelin asks whether a woman can be the mükemmel gelin—the perfect bride—without lying about herself to make everyone happy.
London-based Turkish actor, director, and creative producer Duru Agirbas co-produces and performs in Gelin, bringing together a team of theatre makers from Turkey, the UK, Portugal, Brazil, and China. Agirbas has developed the play in collaboration with emerging writer Estelle Warner and director Erica Rosa Lima.
The cast includes Gunes Soysal playing the protagonist Aylin, Elif Gulalp in the role of Aylin’s British Best Friend Yaz, Duru Agirbas as Aylin’s overbearing mother Sevim, and Pedro Millan Duke as the prospective groom Emre.
|
G4 Christmas 2026 - Winchester Guildhall Guildhall Winchester (12/21-12/21) |
|
G4 Christmas 2026 - Chichester Cathedral Chichester Cathedral (11/27-11/27) |
|
200 STAB WOUNDS downstairs at The Dome - London Downstairs at The Dome (8/11-8/11) |
|
G4 Christmas 2026 - Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral (12/17-12/17) |
|
Trainspotting The Musical Sunderland Empire (2/22-2/27) |
|
The Searchers and Hollies Experience, The Artrix, Bromsgrove, Thursday 8th Oct 2026 Artrix (10/08-10/08) |
|
Fawlty Towers Weekend 26/09/2026 Holiday Inn Leeds - Brighouse by IHG (9/26-9/27) |
|
THE SLACKERS at The Underworld - London The Underworld (10/04-10/04) |
|
DESPISED ICON x CARNIFEX at Electric Brixton - London Electric Brixton (11/03-11/03) |
|
Fawlty Towers Weekend 08/08/2026 The Queen At Chester Hotel, Bw Premier Collection (8/08-8/09) |