Elchin Afandiyev's play marks Azerbaijan’s debut at Edinburgh festival
By Sabina Idayatova
The play My Favourite Madman by esteemed writer and playwright
Elchin Afandiyev has been staged at Gryphon Venues theater as part
of Azerbaijan's participation at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the
world's largest arts festival, for the first time.
Co-organized by the London-based Azerbaijan Intercultural Society (AZICS) and ALOFF Theatre, the spectacle was sponsored by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Speaking before the opening ceremony, AZICS director Sanan Aliyev provided an insight into the play and highlighted Elchin Afandiyev's life and career.
My Favourite Madman, a play in which events take place in Baku in 1995, is a roller-coaster ride of anarchic fun. It features different characters who live in their own reality of abnormal and suicidal nature. The play will be staged till August 10.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which was established in 1947, takes place annually in Scotland's capital in August.
The Fringe is a showcase for the performing arts, particularly theatre and comedy, although dance and music are also represented. Millions of tourists come to the country to attend the arts and culture festivities.
Meanwhile,Theatro Technis in London hosted the premiere of Citizens of Hell, a play by Elchin Afandiyev. The staging was sponsored by Azerbaijan`s Ministry of Youth and Sports and supported by Azerbaijan`s Embassy in the UK.
Speaking to the opening ceremony, producer David Parry provided
an insight into the play.
Azerbaijani Ambassador Fakhraddin Gurbanov emphasized the
importance of culture diplomacy. He said cultural events played the
role of a bridge between nations, bringing people closer to each
other.
The ambassador spoke of Afandiyev's life and career, saying he has authored more than 100 books with his works translated into more than 40 languages.
Citizens of Hell at Theatro Technis was a world first: for the first time it has ever been performed either in the West or in English, according to the UK media.
Set in Baku during WWII, the play is described as a surrealist nightmare exploring the grim mechanics of moral paralysis, sexual frustration with an undertow of the primal fear of strangers.
The play has only three characters: a husband and wife, and a mysterious visitor to their 5th floor apartment on New Year's Eve 1937-1938.
Elchin Afandiyev is an Azerbaijani writer, professor and Deputy Prime Minister. He wrote his first novel when he was 16, and it was published in Azerbaijani Youth magazine in 1959. So far, nearly 100 books of Afandiyev have been translated and published in English, French, German, Spanish, Turkish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Arabic, Persian, Mandarin, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Croatian, Georgian, Lithuanian, Moldovan, Turkmen, Uzbek, Kazakh, Tajik, Serbian and other languages. About 5 million copies have been sold worldwide.