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Ilkhom Theatre is a theatre company based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Founded by Mark Weil in 1976, it was the first independent theatre in the Soviet Union and remains self-supporting to this day. The theatre is described in a BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents documentary in April 2008, which deals primarily with the murder in September 2007 of an acclaimed director Mark Weil. His last production was the Greek tragedy The Oresteia; despite his murder the day before it was scheduled to open, the actors went ahead because, according to them, the show must go on.
In 2011 Ilkhom Theatre won one of the Prince Claus Awards. From the very beginning, the theatre was named ESTY, the Ilkhom (Experimental Studio of Theatrical Youth actors, artists, musicians, and theatricals). Such young playwrights as A. Vampilov, S. Zlotnikov, Sh. Bashbekov, Ch. Guseinov, and L. Razumovskaya debuted in the young "Ilkhom"and were later hailed as new-wave playwrights. Meeting with the playwrights of that generation has become one of the best ways of self-expression for the actors.
In 1985 arrived the time of independence and freedom. By that time the Ilkhom had become famous, as a real independent theatre which usually is ahead of its time. During that period, 1985 - 1990, the theatre lost its interest in traditional plays and sank into mime theatre. It has become a visual theatre of metaphor and clownery. It was the beginning of the new Ilkhom. The actors playing in "Ragtime for clowns", "Clomadeus", and "Petrushka" brought energy and the feeling of this new time to the theatre.
In May 1989 the theatre was called the Ilkhom theatre. Today, the Ilkhom is a complex, which includes a theatre, school of drama and exhibition hall. From 1989, the year of the founding its drama school, the next, third stage of the Ilkhom's life began. The graduation project of the 1st studio (1993) became the play which united all the generations of the theatre. It was a fantasy play about Samarkand, based on C. Gozzi's "Happy Beggars", where the directors of the play could assimilate the traditions of del'arte comedy with "Maskhoroboz" - traditional national Uzbek comedy. It was the continuation of the theatre's traditions and the beginning of a new time in the Ilkhom.
Recent premieres include: "Imitations of The Koran" by A. Pushkin; "Love's Labors Lost", a comedy by W. Shakespeare, the musical comedy "The Portrait of Mademoiselle Tarjee" by I. Elagin, the psychological drama "The Brothers & Liza", by A. Kazatsev, and a provoking, intense play, which includes several works of A. Pushkin, called "Romance Unleashed" (originally titled "Eugenie Onegin"*). Before that performance, "Ubu Rex" by A. Jarri, which was the first premiere in the CIS of such a basic play in the arena of World Theatre, was held. Also, the Ilkhom staged a deep poetic version of an unknown and unpublished work "White White Black Stork" written by the famous Uzbek novelist A. Kadyri, who was persecuted after World War II; a classical tragedy of world theatre "Blood Wedding" by Lorca; an "Art" comedy and bestseller of world repertoire by Yasmina Reza; and a co-project with the British Council, ON Theatre and the Ilkhom Theatre, a production of "On Love" (a documentary of love stories).
In the repertoire of today's theatre, there are several plays which are still popular, despite their age. Among them are: "Petty Bourgeois Wedding" by Bertold Brecht, "Happy Beggars" by Carlo Gozzi, "Tortilla Flat" by John Steinbeck, and "Medea" by Euripides. The Ilkhom theatre is still traditionally inviting new talents and mature actors, musicians and playwrights from different cities, theatre schools, and conservatories to work together. Every month in the Ilkhom, there are diverse exhibitions, charitable plays, concerts and video-programs of the theatre. For the last ten years, the Ilkhom Theatre has taken part in more than 20 international theatre festivals in the United States, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, and Germany.
In 1993, the Ilkhom initiated and took an active part in the "Theatre: East and West" International festival in Tashkent. Mark Weil was the artistic director of the festival. Annually, from April 30 till May 1, the theatre organises an International Festival of Contemporary Music and Theatre, "Ilkhom XX". Music and theatre companies from more than ten countries: Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Italy, China, Russia, USA, Switzerland, etc. have participated in it.
In his review about Theatre IIkhom, Thomas May says
“Theatre "Ilkhom" has always identified himself as the Tashkent-based theatre - theatre of the city, where anything and everything for a long time, and mingled in the streets heard a variety of dialects, so it sounds both onstage and Russian and Uzbek language. And in that long-term hit repertoire as "Happy are the poor" characters speak at least four languages: Russian, Uzbek, Italian, Yiddish. “
The fourth stage of the creative life of the theatre "Ilkhom" began after the tragic events of September 7, 2007 - the death of its founder and permanent leader - Mark Yakovlevich Weil. In memory of the dead "Ilkhom" theatre became known as Weil. The artistic director of Theater of Mark Weil "Ilkhom" became an actor, Boris Gafurov.
5, Pakhtakorskaya Str.,
Tashkent, 100047
Uzbekistan
info@ilkhom.com
ilkhom_theatre@tps.uz
Here are few videos reflect some of their work.