ArtIShok theatre’s new production wonders: What is the “New Kazakhstan”?

Almaty’s oldest independent theatre ArtIShok is making the town of Konayev the subject of its upcoming new production.

Konayev is the new name of Kapshagay, a town near Almaty once designed to be a beach resort around an artificial lake (reservoir), then designated to become a gambling paradise.

The new name is a tribute to Dinmukhammed Konayev, Soviet Kazakhstan’s longest serving Communist party boss. It is said he was pushed out of power in 1986 by the then young and ambitious Nursultan Nazarbayev. Hence, his legacy was not much celebrated under Nazarbayev’s presidency.

ArtIShok’s production, called “Konayev”, will be “more than a play about a town which was meant to be a resort, and which then aspired to become a Kazakh Las Vegas,” said the production’s director Galina Pyanova.

“We are very interested in exploring the fate of Kapshagay, which has always been seen as a dull appendix to Almaty.

“Can the name of legendary Dinmukhammed Konayev change the town’s fate, and if yes, how? We want to ponder this question together with our spectators,” Pyanova said.

It is a dive into the question: What is life like in Kapshagay now that it has a new politically weighty name and, more broadly, how is life in the New Kazakhstan promised by President Tokayev?

“It is about what now. What awaits Konayev and Kazakhstan as a whole? What is the New Kazakhstan? What country are we going to live in, what language are we going to speak and what faith are we going to follow? But don’t expect us to answer these questions: the idea is to look for answers together with the spectators.”

Pyanova and her actors have made several artistic expeditions to Konayev to get the vibe, “to see everything for ourselves”.

At “Konayev’s” first open rehearsal, the spectators were taken into the town’s mystical future, where hypothetical Islamisation is juxtaposed with government plans to create new digital towns around Almaty.

Even though the play can’t be described as optimistic – Kapshagay does not become a happy place after becoming Konayev – the overall mood is ironic.

The production is very much still in the making. There is no ready script, which is an approach that ArtIShok has used in some of its earlier productions, like “Down Tole Bi Street” and “Uyat” (“Shame”).

“We would like to be optimists and imagine a future that will not look as grim as it may look now. There is still hope, we are still studying the material, still searching.”

So, it cannot be ruled out that by the time the play premieres, which is expected to be in May, Konayev will have a completely different future.

By Valeria Kholodova

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