Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan’s Yugh Theater has ended its 30th theater season with the "Obsession" play.

The work is based on the play "Ghosts" by Norwegian playwright Henrik Johan Ibsen, Trend Life reported.

The play was met with great interest among the audience. The viewers were fascinated by the brilliant performance of actors.

The director of the play is Gumrah Omar, art director - honored artist Rashid Sherif, costume designer - Elnara Bakirova, music artist - Sabina Suleymanova, and the director assistant is Saida Suleymanova.

The play staging involves the honored artist Elkhan Abbasov, actors Matanat Abbasli, Zumrud Gasimova, Amid Gasimov, Vugar Hajiyev, Ogtay Mehdiyev, Elgun Hamidov, Laman Marrikh and Gunel Safarova.

Like most of Ibsen's plays, "Ghosts" is a scathing commentary on 19th-century morality.

It was written in 1881 and first staged in 1882 in Chicago, Illinois, in a production by a Danish company on tour.

In the play, Helen Alving is about to dedicate an orphanage she has built in the memory of her late husband, Captain Alving. She reveals to Pastor Manders that her marriage was secretly a miserable one, primarily because of her husband's immoral, unfaithful behavior.

Yugh Theater was established in 1989 under the auspices of the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theater by Vagif Ibrahimoglu and Hasanaga Turabov. In 1992, it received the status of the state theater.

The name of the theater carries a meaning: yugh means "an old rite". Everything, however, is more complicated than it seems, because this burial ritual during which the scenes from the life of the deceased were played symbolizes a return to the memory. The actors try reminding the spectators of what they knew, maybe even in their past lives, but just forgot.

The main principle of this avant-garde theater is the relevance of chosen topics, non-standard interpretation of familiar stories and experimenting with new forms.

During its history, the Yugh Theater has staged more than 90 plays. Today, it occupies a special place in the theater art of the country. The theater’s troupe has participated in many international festivals.

Plays by William Shakespeare, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Giovanni Boccaccio, Nikolai Gogol, Kobo Abe, as well as Azerbaijani classical and contemporary authors are regularly staged in the theater.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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