Tamara Glazunova, Pictures by Hasan Magadov
On the eve of a sad date in the history of the Turkmen people – the 78th anniversary of the Ashgabat earthquake – a performance of the play “Halk hakуdasy” was held at the Alp Arslan National Drama Theater.
As a reminder, this production won the Grand Prix, the highest award, at the recently held “Garaşsyzlyk ganatym, Watanym – sezdegähim” (The Greatest Danger to the World, the Greatest Danger to the World) theater festival. The grandchildren of the victims of this devastating natural disaster were surely present in the audience and on stage. The touching, tear-jerking accounts of eyewitnesses remain etched in the memories of Turkmen citizens. We mourn the victims, forever trapped beneath the rubble of the collapsed buildings.
The play “Halk hakуdasy,” based on Gadam Kakabayev’s play, captures with authenticity the horror that began at twelve minutes past one on October 6, 1948. The creative team of the Alp Arslan National Drama Theater meticulously approached the production. The work of production designers and honored artists Batyr Bekmuradov and Mekan Annamuradov fully brought to life the destruction of a women’s student dormitory at an Ashgabat university, where, until that tragic moment, young people from many former Soviet republics had studied alongside Turkmen girls.
“This is not a story about a single hero or even a single nation, because among the earthquake’s victims, in addition to Turkmens, there were many Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Russians,” comments playwright Gadam Gylydzhovich. “The tragedy depicted in the play lasts from approximately 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. However, even in the first hours of the earthquake, the heroism of the Ashgabat people was evident. In addition to empathizing with the play’s characters, the performance, through their example, provides valuable information to audiences about how to behave in the event of unforeseen disasters.”
Doctors, military personnel, and the victims themselves unanimously demonstrated human heroism. Turkmens and Armenians, Russians and Tajiks, confronted their shared misfortune with the friendship of nations where all are brothers, and if anyone had even a little strength, they dedicated it to saving other victims. Along with the heroic actions of the Ashgabat residents, the play’s plot included an episode of looting. It might seem superfluous, unnecessary. However, it underscores the honesty of the creators of the play, who showed on stage everything that really happened.
The play has no main characters—all the roles are minor. But in this kaleidoscope of tragic facts, the evil force of the Ashgabat earthquake is most clearly evident. The musical accompaniment is a major plus. Musical director Mammet Khydyrov used excerpts from works by Danatar Khydyrov and Rejep Rejepov, which adequately reflected the emotional trauma of everyone in the ruins of Ashgabat that night.
The tragedy on stage had an emotional impact on the audience, bringing tears to their eyes and a lump in their throats.
Perhaps this was precisely the manifestation of compassion for the innocent victims, in whose place anyone could have found themselves. The audience greeted the actors with thunderous appla)use as they took their bows.
Usually, at this point, the actors call the director onto the stage. But in this performance, the director, Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Handurdy Berdyev, played the role of the university rector himself and chose to remain in the cast. /// nCa 6 October 2026 (Cross post from TDH – Originally published at https://turkmenistan.gov.tm/ru/post/110657/spektakl-posvyashchennyj-pamyati-zhertv-ashhabadskogo-zemletryaseniya)