Nauruz festival to gather in Kazan some 400 participants from six countries

Best theatrical pieces from Turkic world theatres, including from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Altai, Kazakhstan, Crimea, Tatarstan, Tyva, Khakasia and Yakutia, will be presented. Kamal Theatre’s artistic director Farid Bikchentayev said the previous forum had greatly influenced the 2015 festival.

“The forum and Nauruz are known to alternate: one year it is the festival, the next it is the educational forum. The last year’s forum was focused on ritual. Judging by the programme, the last year’s forum was a great influence, as many shows this year are based on some kind of ritual.”

The purpose of the festival was to allow “ethnic theatres to find their own path”.

“After the Soviet Union collapse it was very difficult to do, because the Soviet theatre’s influence was very strong, so that local theatres tried desperately to detach themselves and were in a state of search. Nowadays, I think there is some certainty. The trend is to conserve one’s identity without missing the current European and Russian theatre influences. It will probably be the focus of this festival,” the director stressed.

An international conference themed Theatre Development Vector: Europe – Asia will gather prominent Russian and Turkic world theatre representatives, including from Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Hungary, Germany and Tatarstan.

The festival will for the first time revolve around a particular Turkic nation’s theatrical culture, the 12th Nauruz being dedicated to Kazakhstan.

“We want Kazakhstan to show what their theatre does and how their culture, traditions and rituals are reflected in the theatre. We will carry on with this tradition. Next year, it will possibly be Bashkortostan or Azerbaijan, we will see,” the festival’s artistic director commented.

Festival’s panel of critics member Niyaz Iglamov said the repertoire was diverse, featuring Shakespeare’s plays, ethnic parables, national classics and contemporary pieces.

The festival is founded by Tatarstan Culture Ministry with the support of Russia Culture Ministry, Tatarstan Union of Theatre Workers and Tatarstan Academic Theatre named after G. Kamal.