Kirghiz Drama Theater

(full name, Kirghiz Academic Drama Theater), created in 1941 in Frunze.

The theater’s company was largely made up of former members of the Theater for Young Audiences and the Musical Drama Theater, including N. Kitaev, S. Dzhamanov, D. Kuiukova, B. Kydykeeva, K. Eshimbekov, M. Ryskulov, and Sh. Tiumenbaev. Graduation performances of the students at the A. V. Lunacharskii State Institute of Theatrical Art (GITIS), including Shakespeare’s King Lear and Ostrovskii’s Poverty Is No Crime, became part of the theater’s repertoire. During the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) heroic and patriotic plays were staged, notably Tokombaev’s The Oath (1942), Dzhantoshev’s Kurmanbek (1944), Shukurbekov’s Revenge (1944), and Kuttubaev and Malikov’s Dzhanyl (1945). In the late 1940’s and 1950’s the theater performed many plays on contemporary themes. Among outstanding productions were Abdumomunov’s Sandy Slope (1947), Narrow Gorge (1953), and Atabek’s Daughter (1955) and Malikov and Kuttubaev’s We Are Not What We Were (1951). In 1957 graduates of the Kirghiz studio of GITIS joined the company, and in the early 1960’s the Kirghiz directors D. Abdykadyrov and M. Nazaraliev, who had studied at the Tashkent Drama Institute, began working in the theater.

Many of the plays staged in the 1960’s and early 1970’s were devoted to the life of the Kirghiz people, notably The Father’s Fate by Dzhakiev (1960), Kychan (1961) and Flowers in the Mountains (1962) by Beishenaliev, The Father’s Word Is Honor by Omuraliev (1963), Conscience Does Not Forgive (Not Subject to Appeal, 1964), Love and Hope (1965), and He Who Laughs Last (1969) by Abdumomunov, Those Who Have Matured (1965) and Four Men (1968) by Baidzhiev, and Living Water by Dyikambaev (1970). Stage adaptations of Aitmatov’s works Face to Face (1961), The Maternal Field (1964), Dzhamilia (1965), My First Teacher (1966), and My Little Poplar in the Red Kerchief (1967) occupy an important place in the repertoire. Historical and revolutionary themes are treated in the plays On High Land by Malikov (1956), Kanybek by Dzhantoshev (1956), Ashirbai by Abdumomunov (1957), The Folk Singer’s Dream by Shukurbekov (1962), Seed of Immortality by Tokombaev (1964; 2nd version, 1971), and Dzhukeev-Pudovkin by Sadykov (1966). Classical drama is represented by Gogol’s The Inspector-General (1945), Shakespeare’s Othello (1950), Ostrovskii’s The Dowerless Girl (1951) and The Storm (1958), Griboedov’s Woe From Wit (1966), and Gorky’s Vassa Zheleznov (1968).

The theater’s repertoire includes the best works of Soviet and classical and modern foreign drama. It was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1958 and became an academic theater in 1971. The company includes (1973) People’s Artists of the USSR D. Kuiukova, B. Kydykeeva, and M. Ryskulov and People’s Artists of the Kirghiz SSR S. Balkybekova, A. Botaliev, S. Dzhamanov, N. Kitaev, A. Kobegenov, S. Kumushalieva, and A. Kuttubaeva. The chief director is Honored Art Worker of the Kirghiz SSR D. Abdykadyrov and the principal artist is Honored Art Worker of the Kirghiz SSR A. M. Toropov.