Ali Poyrazoğlu talked about the unknown in the program “Empati”. The master actor also spoke about his experience following the 2022 theater warehouse fire.
Ali Poyrazoğlu, one of the Turkish theater artists, was a guest of the program “Empati” broadcast on NTV, presented by Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan. Poyrazoğlu, who has performed on stage, taught and conducted orchestras for many years, talked about his family and artistic life.Taylan's question: “When did your love of storytelling begin?” Answering the question, Poyrazoğlu said: “I am the child of a medical family. My mother is a doctor and my father is a pharmacist. When I was young, I wanted to become a pharmacist, but I had no such desire. I think this journey started with the books I read.”Talking about her family, the master actress said: “My mother was a very republican girl and read a lot. My grandfather, Ali Rıza Cankorur, was Atatürk's doctor. My grandfather was Atatürk's friend and the leading officer of the gang that saved the Manisa region from Greek occupation. After the great victory, Atatürk gave my grandfather's surname 'he saved many lives'. I have an older sister and an older brother. My older sister continued the family legacy and became a pharmacist, and my older brother both passed away. “He did.”Explaining the importance of wondering in life with the words “If you are not curious, you are dead, you cannot read life, therefore you cannot read yourself. That means you are missing out on life”, Poyrazoğlu first explained something unknown about himself: “I am the head of the acting department. I want to have many hats and I am still a student. Every year I have free time and participate in various training and acting courses abroad.”Ali Poyrazoğlu, who told the story of his encounter with the stage, said: “When my parents said: “We are going to Hamlet”, I said: “I don't want to eat an omelet”. When the spirit of Hamlet's father entered the play, I was very afraid of 'ghosts coming'. When I cried, the woman sitting behind me intervened. After that, I built a theater under the dining table at home. I was playing Tintin under the table.”“How would you describe love?” Answering the question “If you don't love, you die”, Poyrazoğlu explained that he often skipped school and went to watch movies in Fatsa with the following statement: “I fell in love with Neriman Köksal. And many years later, I acted in a movie with Neriman's sister and confessed my love to her. The second person I loved was Belgin Doruk. I also acted in movies with her. Yıldız Kenter was my third love, but I still love her. Well, I even chose the Istanbul Conservatory of Music for her.”Poyrazoğlu, who has a son from a relationship while working in theater in London, said: “Fatherhood is a story of suffering for me. We see each other occasionally, he lives in the Netherlands and sometimes comes here. He is a philosopher, he cannot earn any money.”“I'm not afraid of death. I want to die on stage,” the 79-year-old martial artist said, adding: “Once I was poisoned on stage, I had a very severe allergic shock and died. That day, I had a very bad headache and had to take two painkillers. I fainted on stage while performing with Gülriz Sururi. There was a doctor at the performance and he intervened for me. After that, I got up and continued the show.”Master actor, Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan “The theater burned down. You lost many things. How did you cope with this?” He answered the question. Ali Poyrazoğlu said, “I earned money. I wanted to establish a theater and visual arts museum with that money. I created a collection of paintings that were difficult to obtain and I collected Ottoman puppets from the 18th century. Paintings, masks, puppets, costumes… But unfortunately, none of them remained. It was an old and solid warehouse. A fire broke out three blocks away and hit the us. In the end, the warehouse burned down.” Stating that he started collecting a collection again the next day, Poyrazoğlu said, “Now I continue to collect again and I will open that museum.”A fire broke out in the warehouse of Ali Poyrazoğlu Theater in Sarıyer in December 2022. The warehouse where theater decorations and puppets were placed was also engulfed in flames and everything turned to ashes. Poyrazoğlu announced the fire that broke out in the warehouse of his theater with the words: “I am very saddened… Only ashes remain of most of the plays in our repertoire, my collection of puppets and masks. The largest collection in the history of Turkish theater has disappeared…”
