Yücel Erten, who was born in Muş on October 19, 1945, spent his childhood in Antalya and Ankara, where he completed his primary and secondary education. Erten, who has been interested in the stage since his childhood, attended courses and community center theater workshops organized within the scope of Ankara Radio's "Children's Hour" program; He took his first step into stage experience by establishing the Ankara Youth Theater with his friends under the umbrella of the National Turkish Student Union (MTBB).
Erten, who enrolled in Ankara State Conservatory Theater Department in 1964, founded the troupe called "Sahne 9" during his education and completed his high school stage by staging the play "Jesters" in 1969. In the same year, he started working at Ankara State Theater as a trainee artist; A year later, he went to Germany with a state scholarship and graduated from the directing and set-costume departments at the Folkwang High School in Essen.
During her time in Germany, she worked as an assistant in institutions such as Züricher Schauspielhaus, Staatstheater Hannover, Städtische Bühnen Essen and Bühne64, and was deemed worthy of the "Folkwang Award" by staging Aristophanes' "State of Women" as her graduation project.
After returning to Turkey, he worked as a lecturer at Ankara State Conservatory between 1974 and 1975, and staged Franz Kafka's play "The Trial" with his students. After completing his military service in July 1975, he was appointed to the Ankara State Theatre; Here he appeared on the stage with Recep Bilginer's play "It was an Autumn Day in the Park" and wrote a total of thirteen plays until his retirement in 2000.
Bertolt Brecht's "The Preventable Climb of Arturo Ui", staged in 1979, was the first Brecht production to be shown at the Ankara State Theatre.
Erten served as the General Manager and Chief Director of the State Theaters between 1992 and 1993, and as the General Director of the Izmit Municipality City Theaters in 2002 and 2004; During this period, he directed more than 70 plays and was appreciated with nearly 40 awards. He also serves as the Founding General Art Director of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality City Theaters, which was established in 2021.
Since 1988, he has brought performing arts to the international platform with the plays he directed in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Uzbekistan, Germany, Macedonia and Poland; In particular, the work he staged at the TRNC Municipal Theater in 1988, "Midas'ın Ears", attracted attention by being selected as the "Art Event of the Year".
Yücel Erten was born on October 19, 1945 in Muş, Türkiye.
Productions in which he took part
He took part in 15 productions in total; 12 of the most well-known are listed.
- Karadayı (2012) — İskender Akın
- Neverending Song (2010)
- Farewell Rumelia (2007) — Kuyumcu Mehmet Efendi
- Centennial Night (2026) — Fethullah Gülen
- Dusty Roads (2013)
- Republic (1998) — Dr. Rıza Nur
- Deliormanlı (2016) — Yakut
- Come on, Son (2018) — Haşmet
- Cicadas and Ants (2017) — Muzaffer
- Kavşak (2010) — Seyfi
- Salkım Hanım's Grains (1999)
- Tired Warrior (1993)
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.
