From the History of the Popularization of “Nomadic” Theater in Central Asia through the Kazakh Periodical Press at the beginning of the XX century

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the features of popularization of the idea of theater and drama in the Kazakh community, through the first periodicals in their native language at the beginning of the twentieth century. The events of the first decade of the twentieth century (the Russo-Japanese war, 1905, elections to the State Duma, etc.), as it turned out, stirred up not only the political, but also the cultural life of communities in the eastern regions within the Russian Empire. The awakening of consciousness was reflected in the preference for visual means of communication, which at that time included theatrical productions, circus and musical evenings. The periodical press of the Russian East, in this case Central Asia, actively participated in the coverage of this process. It is curious that graduates of Jadidi educational institutions have made a certain contribution to the popularization of the idea of the national theater and drama. This social process is comparable in terms of goal-setting with a larger-scale all-Russian cultural and educational process known as “Peredvizhniki”. The tendency to bring cultural achievements to the masses in the last third of the nineteenth century found a response, which is important, in remote regions of Russia: Magazines and newspapers in Tatar and Kazakh languages were published about the events of the theatrical life of foreigners. The materials of the study were the press, published by the Arabic headset in a common alphabet understandable to a number of Turkic–speaking peoples – the newspaper “Kazakh” and others. The popularization of musical and dramatic works and stage art among the masses in the eastern regions of the empire certainly had specific features. As a result, interest in theater and drama among the Turkicspeaking peoples of Russia was accompanied by intercultural exchange, referred to in the special literature as the “import” of popular plays by Russian classics, with their subsequent processing (adaptation) to ethnocultural features. The “theatrical” theme was used for the purpose of education and formation of civic consciousness by the nascent Kazakh political parties; the genre of theater criticism was emerging.