In the murmuring waters of the canal, a plump, very appetizing apple floated with red sides, which a young man passing by could not resist. After biting into an apple, the young man became thoughtful: «Someone planted a tree and took care of it for several years. I, without spending any effort on it, bit one of the fruits. It is necessary to find the owner of this apple, apologize or pay money.
The young man found the owner of the red apple, it turned out to be an old grandmother who agreed to forgive the imprudent young man, but only on one condition: if he marries her granddaughter. The young man agreed.
«Just keep in mind» my grandmother warned, «my granddaughter is without an eye, an arm and a leg.
This legend is very common in the East and has its own variation in every nation. Uzbek playwright Khoja Abbas introduced her in his play "Red Apple". The creative team of the National Drama Theater. Alp Arslana staged a performance based on it, dedicating it to friendship between the Turkmen and Uzbek peoples. The theatrical legend will be shown to our friends from Uzbekistan during the opening of the new Tashkent entertainment park.
In the Turkmen version of this legend, a golden honey melon seduced an honest young man who got into a difficult situation and was forced to give his word to marry a granddaughter with many flaws. As the reader has, of course, guessed, the granddaughter's flaws turned out to be fictitious. Just an enterprising grandmother wanted to find a good husband for her - honest, conscientious and able to keep his word.
To stage this musical comedy, Honored Art Worker of Turkmenistan Ashirmukhammed Rakhmanov, a teacher at the directing department of the Turkmen State Institute of Culture, who has a video film based on this legend, was invited.
- I specially selected young actors for the performance, who have not yet fully shown themselves on stage, - shares Ashirmukhammed Rakhmanovich, - and thus gave them the opportunity to take a good chance to do it in the Red Apple. We were faced with two tasks: to present the viewer with a cheerful, heartfelt essence of the legend, and to do it in Uzbek flavor. How we solved these problems is up to the viewer to judge. But I'm happy with the result.
