Afife Jale (1902 – 1941) is the first Muslim actress in Turkish theatre. In times when Muslim Turkish women were not allowed to act in theatre, Afife Jale confronted all the problems head on, including family pressure and became an actress but her life ended in misery at the Bakırköy Mental Hospital in 1941.
Young Afife Jale joined the audition at Darülbedayi (Metropolitan Theatres) in 1918 and passed the audition with other four Turkish girls, Beyza, Refika, Behire and Memduhe. Except for Afife and Refika, the other girls hopelessly gave up as they thought they wouldn’t be able to take roles in the theatre. The same year Refika became a prompter (She is the first Turkish female prompter at the backstage) while Afife became a trainee actress. Afife joined all the rehearsals for a year but she couldn’t take a role yet. In 1919 she finally had the chance to take her first role when an actress, Eliz Benemenciyan, had to leave the troupe for Paris. Her first role was a girl called Emel in the play Yamalar (Patches) at the Apollon Theatre (Rexx Movie Theatre in Kadıköy today). However, her efforts to make a career on the stage was interrupted by the police many times and finally the police sent a notice to the board of the troupe that under no circumstances Muslim women can take roles in the plays, which ended her acting career.
Her short acting career interrupted by the police and mentality in a falling empire that stopped Muslim women from social life and making a career finally led her to sink into a depression. Soon she started taking pills and the doctor she fell in love with made her addicted to drugs. After the young Turkish Republic was founded in 1923 she had the chance to take roles on the stage easily, just like many other Muslim women who deserved to take part in social life. However, she felt worse in years due to her addiction to drugs and finally her friends had to put her in Bakirkoy Mental Hospital where she stayed until she died in 1941.
Afife Jale Sahnesi (Stage) Dereboyu Cad. Dere Cikmazi Sok. No.1 Ortakoy, Besiktas Tel: 212 261 27 91 www.afife.org
