Theatre can make a small lie feel enormous. That tension sits at the center of “Everything Is a Little Lie,” a new dark comedy written and directed by Michael Önder and produced by Aysa Productions. The play brings Berk Hakman and Damla Sönmez back together after their earlier work in the award-winning 2017 film Taksim Hold’em, with Yasin Çam joining the cast. The production is scheduled to premiere on October 28, 2026, giving Istanbul theatre audiences a sharp new story about marriage, ambition, manipulation and the stories people tell to protect what they want.
A Reunion That Adds Real Curiosity
The return of Hakman and Sönmez is one of the production’s strongest hooks. Their previous collaboration in Taksim Hold’em created a natural point of interest, but this project moves their partnership from film into live theatre. That change matters. Theatre removes the distance created by editing and puts every hesitation, reaction and uncomfortable silence directly in front of the audience.
Michael Önder also gives the project a useful creative connection to his earlier work. Taksim Hold’em established his interest in placing characters inside tense social situations where personal choices collide with larger pressures. Everything Is a Little Lie appears to take that interest into a more intimate setting, focusing on relationships rather than a wider social conflict.
A Marriage Saved by a Carefully Constructed Lie
The premise is deliberately uncomfortable. Edip, a screenwriter searching for a career breakthrough, receives what looks like a valuable opportunity when television actor Atakan calls him to a hotel. Edip expects a chance to cast Atakan in a new film. Instead, he becomes part of Atakan’s attempt to save a collapsing marriage.
Atakan has told his actress wife, Sinem, that Edip has written a play for the couple. Sinem arrives carrying divorce papers, so the fictional production suddenly becomes a high-stakes test. Edip must convince her to take part in the imaginary play. If the plan works, Atakan hopes to repair his marriage. Edip, meanwhile, sees a path toward the career opportunity he desperately wants.
That setup creates the play’s central dramatic engine: nobody enters the situation for purely honest reasons. Each character wants something, and each desire makes the next lie easier to justify.
Why the Dark-Comedy Angle Could Work
The strongest dark comedies often find humor in situations that are painfully recognizable. Everything Is a Little Lie seems designed around that exact contradiction. The audience can laugh at the absurdity of the plan while also questioning the emotional cost behind it.
The play also raises a broader question about boundaries. At what point does a harmless performance become manipulation? Can a lie told to save a relationship ever remain harmless? And what happens when an actor, a writer and a marriage become parts of the same performance?
Those questions give the production more weight than a simple relationship comedy. The fictional play inside the play also creates room for shifting power. Edip believes he is controlling the story, Atakan believes he is directing the outcome, and Sinem enters the situation with her own reasons for accepting or rejecting the premise. That structure can turn even an ordinary conversation into a negotiation.
Yasin Çam Adds Another Dimension
Yasin Çam plays Edip, the ambitious screenwriter caught between professional opportunity and an increasingly complicated personal scheme. His character provides the audience with a useful entry point because Edip begins with a straightforward goal: advance his career.
The problem is that the opportunity comes with conditions he cannot fully control. As the fictional story starts affecting real relationships, Edip must decide how far he is willing to go. That conflict should give Çam plenty of room to balance comedy with nervous energy and moral uncertainty.
Hakman’s Atakan, meanwhile, stands at the center of the deception, while Sönmez’s Sinem represents the character with the most immediate reason to challenge the story being presented to her. The three-character structure keeps the drama focused and gives the play a contained, pressure-cooker quality.
October 28 Premiere Puts the Play on the Radar
Everything Is a Little Lie is set to premiere at Trump Sahne in Istanbul on October 28, 2026, at 8:30 p.m. Ticket listings identify the production as a 90-minute, single-act dark comedy with a 16+ age rating. Further performances are also scheduled in Istanbul, including a Fişekhane date on October 29.
For theatre followers, the production offers several reasons to watch: a recognizable cast, a writer-director with a previous connection to two of its leads, and a premise that can shift quickly between comedy and emotional tension.
Most importantly, the play understands a simple truth about modern relationships: people rarely lie for only one reason. Sometimes ambition, fear, love, pride and self-preservation arrive together. Everything Is a Little Lie turns that uncomfortable reality into the central mechanism of its story.
If Michael Önder’s new production can maintain that balance between sharp humor and genuine emotional stakes, it could become one of the more intriguing Turkish theatre debuts of the autumn season.
Final Thought
Everything Is a Little Lie has a premise built for the stage: three characters, competing motives and one carefully constructed deception that threatens to become bigger than the people who created it. The reunion of Berk Hakman and Damla Sönmez adds another layer of anticipation, while Yasin Çam and Michael Önder give the production a distinctive creative identity. With its October 28 premiere approaching, this Turkish dark comedy deserves attention from audiences looking for theatre that mixes uncomfortable questions with sharp entertainment.
SOURCE: Birsen Altuntas, Aysa Productions, IMDB
Keep in Touch For More Updates: www.buzzwithriz.com
1 Comment
Pingback: Happy’s Place Season 3 Trailer: Reba McEntire Returns to NBC