Afife Jale

Afife Jale (1902 – July 24, 1941) was a Turkish stage actress, best known as the first Muslim theatre actress in the Ottoman Empire.

Early life Jale was born in Kadıköy, Istanbul to father Hidayet and mother Medhiye. She had two half-siblings, sister Behiye and brother Salah, on her mother's side. Though she was interested in acting from a young age, her father was opposed to her becoming an actress on religious grounds; the profession was unheard of for a woman in a middle-class Muslim family.

At this time, Muslim women in general were discouraged from attending or participating in plays. Actresses in the Ottoman Empire were generally from non-Muslim minorities, and theatre audiences were subject to Islamic sex segregation. It was common for productions to run twice a day: first for women in the morning, and again for men in the evening.

Education In 1914, the Ottoman Empire established its first imperial state conservatory, the Dârülbedâyi, to provide an education in music and theatre to male students. French theatre manager André Antoine was initially appointed to run the institution, as it was hoped that the conservatory would begin a national theatre tradition.

Jale, while still a at Istanbul's Girls' Industrial School, undertook the Darülbedayi's entrance exam on November 10, 1918. Three girls discontinued their studies due to the strength of cultural opposition to women on the stage, coupled with the Darülbedayi's reluctance to let them perform. Jale's fourth classmate, Refika, decided to become a prompter instead, becoming the first Turkish Muslim woman to pursue a profession behind the curtain in theatre. Although Jale was not the first Turkish woman record as having appeared on stage, she was the first to perform in a modern Turkish theatre with a prompter. Tahsin was more tolerant than his officers, and ordered his officers to leave her undisturbed. The state began to transition into the Republic of Turkey, and the imperial ban on acting by Muslim women was lifted by the state's new leader, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Personal life In 1929, Jale met and married musician Selahattin Pınar, who played the oud to accompany her performances. Pınar composed at least three songs on their relationship: Nereden Sevdim O Zalim Kadını ("Why did I fall in love with that cruel woman?"), Anladım Sevmeyeceksin Beni Sen Nazlı Çiçek ("I understand you won't love me, sweet flower") and Huysuz ve Tatlı Kadın ("That difficult yet sweet woman"). At times, she lived on the streets. Çalgıcıoğlu was aided in his investigation by Haldun Dormen.

In 1998, the Ortaköy Cultural Centre opened with an attached stage, named the Afife Jale Theatre.

Reappraisal and discussion Though Yale's name has become synonymous with prestigious acting awards in modern Turkey, Jale herself received little recognition both during her lifetime and for decades after her death.

In media

In film

Jale was portrayed by Müjde Ar twice: first in the film Afife Jale (1987), In 2004, journalist Can Dündar presented a documentary of Jale's life and marriage entitled Yüzyılın aşkları: Afife ve Selahattin ("Love stories of the century: Afife and Selahattin"). Serenay Sarıkaya portrays Jale in the series Fi (2017–2018).

On stage

Journalist Nezihe Araz depicted Jale's life in a play bearing her name in 1988; the play was published in English in 1993. Jale's life is also depicted in the ballet Afife, composed by Turgay Erdener and choreographed by Beyhan Murphy.

Music

A recording of the score from Erdener's ballet, Afife, was released in 2000, featuring soprano Selva Erdener, accompanied by Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio.