REVIEW: White White Black Stork
The Ilkhom Theatre Company’s production ofWhite White Black Stork. Photo: Artur Konovalov
In a previous post and preview we talked about the controversy around The Ilkhom Theatre Company of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, formerly part of the USSR. Their gay-friendly topics were met with incredible disapproval back in their conservative country yet was immensely popular at the same time. The group was founded in 1976 by its gay-friendly director Mark Weil, who was viciously murdered last September under very suspicious circumstances. His last words were that this production must go on.
White White Black Stork is really very different from Romeo and Juliet. It is a story about a boy who falls in love with another boy, but submits to an arranged marriage to a girl, who also has another love. The vehement disapproval by the elders is a subject that spans across cultural boundaries and will seem all too familiar to many.
Similar to watching a foreign film, the dialogue of the play is in the native Uzbek language and the supertitles displayed above the stage are a bit distracting but easy to read and actually make it better to pick up the details of the spoken words. The stark white visuals of the set and costumes, contrasted against the occasional booming voice, provide for a dramatic backdrop for the performance.
Sadly it is Makhzum’s love for Muhammadkarim that creates the tumultuous destiny for the characters. But it is lives of Makhzum and the girl, Makhichehra, that will be forever changed.
The Seattle Times had this to say:
Most striking are the ethereal beauty and naked vulnerability of the dazzling performers portraying the story’s young protagonists: Said Khudaibergenov (as Makhzum) and Nigora Karimbaeva (Makhichehra). Long before the show ends, you ache with them. And long afterward, their faces haunt you.
Aside from the lead characters one of my favorite performances is provided by Sayfiddin Melliyev (Kazy) a very big imposing looking fellow with a powerful voice yet at times his character is so light hearted, kind and in my opinion downright lovable.
I highly urge everyone to attend this performance. The message about this universal struggle with being gay in a conservative society was so abhorrent to some people to talk about that in real life the director was potentially murdered because of it.
Seattle Gay News did a couple of in-depth interviews related to this historic performance.
White White Black Stork runs through April 6. Tickets are $10 – $55 and there is a Pay-What-You-Will Performance on March 27 at 7:30 pm.
I went to see this and I have to say it was certainly emotional despite not being able to understand a word they were saying.