Theatre struggles for survival in Kyrgyzstan

swissinfo.ch

With Kyrgyzstan’s government devoting little energy to preserving its cultural heritage, theatre has paid a heavy price for the country's independence.

In a bid to save the 1,000-year-old art, director Nurlan Asanbekov is planning to bring traditional Kyrgyz epic tales to the stage.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has provided funding for Asanbekov’s Sakhna theatre company.

The director believes Switzerland’s multicultural status makes it more receptive to the need to preserve other nations’ cultures.

This, he adds, is a pressing need in Kyrgyzstan, where the arts have suffered due to the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the advent of independence.

“At the time [of the Soviet Union], the government designated specialists which it trained and supported financially,” Asanbekov says.

“Today, the level of qualification among specialists has dropped dramatically. Meanwhile, there is an almost complete indifference towards the arts.”

Preoccupied government

One of the biggest obstacles to a flourishing arts scene in Kyrgyzstan is the lack of government support. Culture has no place among the current priorities of the state and funding has been reduced to virtually nothing.

In fact, Asanbekov is now the only dramatic arts specialist trained in Moscow under the old regime, who is left in Kyrgyzstan.

But he has ignored the lure of a more lucrative career abroad and has set off on a mission on home soil.

Asanbekov plans to stage plays using legends and stories from the past, in a bid to prevent the country’s thousand-year-old culture from disappearing into obscurity.

“These days young people are turning to the worst of western culture for entertainment and it’s my mission to pass certain values on to future generations,” he says.

Universal themes

Kyrgyzstan’s epics address universal themes, such as love, death, war and nature – subjects which all feature in “Kereez”, Asanbekov’s latest play.

The acting is interspersed with several traditional songs, played by an actress on her Komuz, a string instrument.

The play only has sparse scenery, which enables it to performed in a variety places and centres on the need for balance between humans and nature.

One key scene features a hunter who has killed all the animals purely to gain prestige, but then realises that his tribe will die of starvation as a result.

But, this “education through theatre” as Asanbekov calls it, is not easy when there is no real state cultural policy.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has provided SFr5000 ($4,100) in funding to help bring the play to fruition.

Although the amount doesn’t solve all of the problems facing Kyrgyz theatre, Asanbekov says the money has helped to keep his company afloat.

Meanwhile, the company has attracted the attention of international agencies. Recently, Unesco asked the troupe to present a traditional epic to a group of children in a Kyrgyz village. The actors claim it was a great success.

swissinfo, Jean-Didier Revoin and Marzio Pescia in Bishkek

In brief

Since Kyrgyzstan gained its independence other priorities mean the theatre and arts in general have virtually no government funding.

But the director of the Sakhna theatre company, Nurlan Asanbekov, is persevering with his plans to put the country’s traditional epics on the stage.

Asanbekov’s aim is to prevent ancient Kyrgyz cultures from fading into obscurity.

Many of Kyrgyzstan’s youths have been seduced by western cultures since the collapse of the Soviet bloc.