Nuran David Calis

The play tells the story of Ismet and Ayse and the radicalisation of their son Hakan. In doing so, it spans the time from the political and social circumstances in Turkey – starting in the sixties through to September 1980, shortly before the military coup in Turkey – to contemporary Germany.
Ismet and Ayse grow up in Turkey, fall in love and plan for a shared life in times of awakening and turmoil. Ismet is politically active, he can write well and has a small typewriter, which is why he offers his services to those who can’t read or write on the Taksim square in Istanbul. For a short while, freedom seems within their reach, but then there is gunfire, the dreams of a free life are brutally destroyed. Ayse is pregnant, she and Ismet are in danger. So they leave Turkey, move to distant Germany to offer their son a safe future.

Thirty years later Hakan is grown up. He is increasingly secretive, withdraws into his room, turns to religion and grows apart from his parents who have to watch their past catch up to them in their own four walls.

In Kuffar. Die Gottesleugner, Nuran Calis examines the difficult question of making the right decisions in life with a stirring mixture of poetry, brutality and comedy. And he poses the question: when does a right decision threaten to lead down a completely wrong path?