На пути к открытию национального театра Калмыкии

Abstract

The development of informational technologies makes it possible to expand to a considerable degree the domain of the unexplored, revealing new, at times unusual, remarkable and unexpected facts, for example, from the past history of our country, from the history of the formation of its national cultures. One such discovery may be deemed to be the information about the initial stage of work on the establishment of the national theater of Kalmykia. The reader’s familiarization with this interesting event is what comprises the goal of the present article. Its content includes information about the preparation and the realization of the grandiose theatrical premiere of the performance of “Ulan-Sar” — an original mass entertainment event which united theater, music and choreography with ethnography and folklore. Since the performance possessed an interregional status, the article lists the cities and organization which massively participated in this large-scale event, as well as its organizers. A special place is taken by information about the critical-analytical article of professor, Doctor of Philological Sciences, folklorist Alexei Smirnov-Kutachesky (1876 – 1958) devoted to detailed study of this production. Mention is also made of the tragic fate of its author, Sandzhi Kalyayev (1905 – 1985), a great enthusiast, the organizer and first director of the national theater of Kalmykia, subsequently the first people’s poet of the republic.