Abdullah Öcalan is the only prisoner in the maximum security island-prison of Imrali. La celda sin noche (The cell without night) is a theater play written by Basque author Galder Irusta and directed by Mireia Gabilondo.

The play will be performed in the historical Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao on 15 March. 

The Play

The notes about the play say: "1999. A rifle, a book and a plant. Abdullah Öcalan is the only prisoner in a maximum security island-prison south of Istanbul. He is condemned to death for being the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, at war with the Turkish state. In an eternally lit cell and in total isolation, Öcalan’s three souls try to live with his decision and with themselves, while deciding on his future and that of Kurdistan. Based on real events."

La celda sin noche was the play selected in 2019 by ANTZ3RKIZ’s New Playwrights programme, “for its literary quality and dramatic structure, for dealing with a lesser-known subject and also for providing an overtone in defence of human rights”.

ANTZ3RKIZ brings together the Victoria Eugenia Theatre of San Sebastian-Donostia, the Teatro Principal of Vitoria and the Arriaga Theatre, in its project to promote the staging of Basque drama, to support the world of creation and to facilitate the production of shows of a certain significance in appropriate contracting conditions.

On this occasion, La celda sin noche has materialised in a co-production between the three Basque theatres and the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture, to be premiered on 28 July 2022.

Tickets are on sale here