Aim

Through this we aim to help fund our Fringe run of The Sun King this summer.

'You may conspire in the dark, but everything eventually comes to light’

The Sun King follows Jamie, a boy growing up in a developing country. Each summer, Jamie comes to the same spot on the same beach and speaks with a mysterious figure - the king of a magical realm far, far away. Over time, their conversations begin to blur the lines between reality and fiction, while Jamie watches his country and his identity change in ways he could not anticipate.

Written by a Turkish playwright, The Sun King is a queer, political coming-of-age fantasy that combines powerful writing with a new perspective on all-too-familiar themes. The play uses fantasy allegories, drawing from popular books such as The Chronicles of Narnia, to show children’s growing awareness of real-life politics as they grow up. Özcan wrote the play based on his and his friends’ experience growing up in Turkey in the past 20 years under the same ultra-conservative government. The Sun King is both a critique of developing countries’ flawed democracies, and the coming-of-age story of a young, queer boy. Özcan’s rare perspective as a young, queer, Turkish playwright makes the play a unique experience that should be on the list of everyone wanting to see something different this year at the Fringe.

From an Oxford University student team, The Sun King premiered this year at The Burton Taylor Studio, The Oxford Playhouse, and has been met with critical acclaim and had multiple sold-out nights. Over the past two years, Peedie Productions has produced various shows, including Alan Bennett’s The History Boys and A. A. Milne’s Toad of Toad Hall. The Sun King is their first original production, director and writer Uğur Özcan melding together world politics and children’s fantasy stories in order to tackle current issues.

This project successfully funded on 10th August 2024