Mert Dilek

As a dramaturg, I provide playwrights, directors, and other theatre-makers with constructive feedback and support on their work. I also scout new work in British and American theatre for potential projects and productions in other countries, particularly Turkey.

I currently serve on the Reading Panel at the National Theatre’s New Work Department. Previously, I worked as a script reader for The Space, Arcola Theatre, and Bush Theatre: I supported the artistic teams of these venues in identifying and nurturing emerging talent, as well as developing new plays towards production.

Relatedly, I have an active practice in dramatic translation. My Turkish translation of Alan Ayckbourn' Bedroom Farce (1975) premiered at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theatre in February 2022 and has been included in the company's repertoire.

As a theatre critic and arts journalist, I also contribute reviews and features to a variety of publications, including The Stage, Exeunt Magazine, Broadway World, The Arts Desk, and The Theatre Times. My writing has also appeared in WhatsOnStage, Theatre Journal, The Beckett Circle, and Journal of Beckett Studies, and is forthcoming in Modern Drama and PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art. I am open to commissions for critical and journalistic pieces on modern and contemporary theatre — including reviews, interviews, and programme notes.

I am currently at work on my PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge, where I hold the Camilla Mash Studentship in English Literature. I received my M.Phil. with distinction also from Cambridge and hold a B.A. in English and Political Science from Yale University. My doctoral dissertation, tentatively titled ‘Beyond Playthings: Material Dramaturgies on the Modern Stage’, examines the representation of stage objects and materiality in mid-twentieth-century Anglo-American drama. More broadly, my research and teaching interests range across drama, theatre, and performance from the late nineteenth century to the present.

Credits

DRAMATURG, Arcadia, Trinity College, Cambridge, 2022
TRANSLATOR, Bedroom Farce / Yatak Odasi Komedisi, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theatre, ongoing, 2022
STAGE MANAGER, Wolf/Alice, Yale School of Drama, 2018
ASSISTANT DRAMATURG, Pentecost, Yale School of Drama, 2017
DRAMATURG, 4.48 Psychosis, Yale Drama Coalition, 2016
PRODUCER, Constellations, Yale Drama Coalition, 2016
PROPS MASTER, The Trouble with Summer People, Yale Dramatic Association, 2015
ASSISTANT PRODUCER, The Rocky Horror Show, Yale Dramatic Association, 2014
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, ‘Art’, Yale Drama Coalition, 2014

Training

Formal training in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism (including script evaluation) at Cambridge and Yale. Instructors include Zoë Svendsen, Marc Robinson, Harold Bloom, Lawrence Manley, and Lynda Paul.