As part of the annual theatre festival held across theatre venues throughout the country, the creative team of the Main Academic Drama Theatre of Turkmenistan presented the premiere of the play «Howandar» («Patronage»).
Participants in the creative forum were deeply moved by the dramatic story underlying the play by Gadam Kakabayev. The production tells the story of a young, prosperous family whose happy life is suddenly shattered by their child’s serious illness—leukaemia. The frightening diagnosis sounds like a death sentence, completely changing the atmosphere in the home. Quarrels, mutual reproaches and resentment arise between the spouses. Their helplessness in the face of the life-threatening illness plunges the parents into deep despair.
Experienced doctors at the new Oncology Centre, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, come to the boy’s aid. However, the situation is complicated by the lack of a suitable donor. The treatment requires several procedures involving donor stem cells. For the first procedure, the cells were taken from the sick boy’s younger sister, but the doctors immediately warned that she was too weak to become a donor again. Despair once again grips the family: neither the father nor the mother is suitable for this role. Time is running out for the young patient.
Following the doctors’ recommendation, the parents turn to the Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov Charitable Foundation for Assistance to Children in Need of Guardianship. Then a true miracle occurs: thanks to the Foundation’s international connections, compatible donor material is found. Turkmen specialists successfully perform the operation, bringing the boy back to life.
Not only the boy and his parents, but also the entire audience watched through tears of gratitude as the doctors saved the family from what had seemed to be a hopeless situation. And, of course, everyone understood that this miracle would not have been possible without the support of the Charitable Foundation, established on the initiative of Hero-Arkadag.
“I deliberately chose not to give names to the main characters in the play,” playwright Gadam Kakabayev noted in an interview. “All the characters are identified simply as mother, father, son and daughter. In this way, I wanted to emphasise that no family is immune to such a situation.”
The team of the Academic Theatre, led by the director and Honoured Artist of Turkmenistan Eziz Ishangulyyev, approached the production in a highly creative manner. As an experiment, the format of shadow theatre was successfully incorporated into the performance. The white clothing worn by the characters is particularly striking: from the very first scene, this colour immerses the audience in the medical setting. An original approach was also used in the design of the oncology centre’s office, with the scenography presented through video footage featuring diagrams and medical charts.
Alongside experienced actors Shemshat Kasymova (Mother) and Kakamyrat Bazarov (Father), children also played an active role in the production—Kakamyrat Sapyev (Son) and Zuleikha Sapyeva (Daughter). The young performers’ natural spontaneity helped recreate the lively atmosphere of an ordinary family on stage.
The audience gave the actors and director a standing ovation, expressing their appreciation for the outstanding creative work.
