Have You Ever Seen Fireflies? (Turkish: Sen Hiç Ateşböceği Gördün mü?) is a play written by Yılmaz Erdoğan. A feature film based on the play was released in 2021 via Netflix, directed by Andaç Haznedaroglu and starring Yılmaz Erdoğan, Ecem Erkek and Engin Alkan.
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Production
Erdoğan began writing the play while he was serving at the Air Force Academy. It was performed for the first time on 23 January 1999 at the Beşiktaş Cultural Center in Istanbul. Erdoğan was given a day's leave to attend the premiere.
The play had a cast of 17 people and was released with the sponsorship of Telsim. During its run in Istanbul it was staged 97 times between 23 January 1999 and 23 May 1999. Later that same year during June, the play was performed in Bursa, Denizli, Antalya, Isparta, Adana, Tarsus, Mersin and Cyprus, as well as Anatolia. The following year the production went on a temporary hiatus due to the pregnancy of actor Demet Akbağ and by November, the play had been staged a total of 505 times. In August 2002 Erdoğan stated that the play had been viewed by 1 million people.
Original cast
Yılmaz Erdoğan
Demet Akbağ
Zerrin Sümer
Sinan Bengier
Salih Kalyon
Altan Erkekli
Bican Günalan
Gürdal Tosun
Figen Evren
Neslihan Yeldan
Caner Alkaya
Deniz Özerman
Şebnem Sönmez // Binnur Kaya
Vural Çelik
Awards
3rd Afife Theatre Awards
Cevat Fehmi Başkut Special Award: Yılmaz Erdoğan
Most Successful Actress in a Musical or Comedy: Demet Akbağ
Most Successful Supporting ACtress: Şebnem Sönmez
Most Successful Theatre Score: Metin Kalender
Avni Dilligil Theatre Awards
Best Production: Sen Hiç Ateşböceği Gördün mü?
Most Successful Playwright: Yılmaz Erdoğan
Most Successful Supporting Actress: Zerrin Sümer
Most Successful Theatre Score: Metin Kalender
Film adaptation
A film adaptation of the play was released on April 9, 2021, on Netflix. It starred Yılmaz Erdoğan as Patron and also featured Ecem Erkek and Merve Dizdar. Erdoğan had previously spoken about his desire to create a feature film adaptation as early as 2009.