National Drama Theatre

The Osh National Drama Theatre named after Sultan Ibraimov is one of the largest and most famous theatres in Kyrgyzstan. The theatre company was established in 1972, but the artists rehearsed on the stage in the neighboring city of Jalal-Abad for two years, until the Osh theatre building was completed. In 1974, the theatre was opened, and the actors moved to their new performance venue on Kurmanjan Datka Street in Osh.

The new theatre building is similar in style and design to the Abdumomunov Kyrgyz National Academic Drama Theatre in Bishkek. A group of artists, designers and muralists, led by German-Kyrgyzstani artist Theodor Herzen, designed the theatre’s interior foyer and exterior decoration.

The core of the theatre company was made up of third-year graduates of the Kyrgyz studio of the former Gerasimov All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. Their very first production on the new stage was based on the play Sunrise by the Kyrgyz poet Aaly Tokombayev. The troupe garnered its first critical acclaim in 1977 with the staging of The White Steamboat, based on a story by the famous Kyrgyz writer Chyngyz Aitmatov. The production was a resounding success with audiences not only in Kyrgyzstan, but also in neighboring countries.

In 1978, on the stage of the State Academic Maly Theatre in Moscow, Osh artists staged several productions based on the works of Chyngyz Aitmatov, Maxim Gorky and Nodar Dumbadze, which became very popular. In 1982, the theatre became a laureate of the All-Union Festival of Youth Performances in Tbilisi. This run of successes for the Osh theater coincided with the renaissance period of Kyrgyz cinema, which would later be called the “Kyrgyz cinematic miracle.” A common thread between stage and screen was that all the most significant films and theatrical performances were adaptations of the works of Chyngyz Aitmatov.

The theatre is now celebrating its half-century anniversary and continues to delight its audiences with vivid interpretations of works by Kyrgyz, Russian, Georgian, Kazakh, Uzbek and European authors. The most popular productions with both locals and visitors are well-known, classical stories and plays where the action has been transposed into a contemporary Kyrgyz societal setting.