Leyla and Mejnun Reloaded
- Date
- 6 May 2025
- Time
- 15:30 -17:00
- Location
- BG 3
- Room
- VOX-POP, ground floor
In Leyla and Mejnun, the path to individuality and autonomy can only be achieved through love: Mejnun stands up for his love and isolates himself, becoming an individual, such that he no longer needs Leyla. In Yurdakul's adaptation, the roles are reversed, allowing Leyla finally to tell her story after 600 years.
Following a short performance of the piece, Dr Kristine Johanson will briefly introduce Seattle Dance Collective’s ‘Gallop Apace’, their 2021 short dance film adapting Juliet’s ‘Gallop Apace’ speech. Dilan and Kristine will then discuss the relationship between Leyla and Mejnun and Romeo and Juliet and voicing female desire before turning to questions from the audience. This will be followed by drinks and the opportunity to socialise with members of the ACSEM community.
Registration is free through the sign-up form below.
Programme Overview
- 15:30 – welcome and intro
- 15:35 – Leyla and Mejnun Reloaded
- 16:00 – brief introduction and screening of Seattle Dance Collective film, ‘Gallop Apace’
- 16:15 – 17:00: Q&A – Dilan and Kristine and the Audience
Actress, theater producer and writer Dilan Yurdakul has been appointed honorary fellow at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam since September 1, 2024. The theme of her fellowship is "The Expression of Migration within Literature and Film". Among other things, Yurdakul will work with students to explore how the narrative of migration is expressed in literature and film.
As Associate Professor in English Literature, Kristine Johanson is a researcher, teacher, and writer. Since 2022 she has also served as the Faculty of Humanities' Diversity Officer. Besides her academic work—focused on time, emotion, and adaptation in early modern literature— dr. Johanson also has experience in the arts. She has written and directed theatre and film, collaborated with organizations such as the Dutch National Opera and Ballet, and engages regularly with public programming through media appearances, performances, and cultural partnerships.
The Amsterdam Centre for Studies in Early Modernity brings together an interdisciplinary community of scholars who study the culture, economy, politics and arts of the early modern Netherlands, Europe and the world.
