A THEATRICAL DISCOVERY

Hard is the fate of those who were years ahead of their time. The man of the future encounters a lack of understanding among his contemporaries and, at worst, bigotry. But he knows that history will pay him back many times over.

Today, everyone knows the names of those who at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in Susa and Baku created the traditions of Azerbaijani theatre. Every other person who worked on the first theatrical productions created his own school in the ethnic arts, established traditions and educated students.

Some people believe that work in the theatre in those days was an exercise in nepotism. And, indeed, our "founding fathers" of the theatre and opera did happen to be relatives in the main - some wrote plays and librettos, others music, some were directors and others performers. And some were journalists and theatre critics. 

But it wasn't all easy. The theatre was not subsidized by the state; on the contrary, keeping the theatre going and working in it was an unprofitable and even dangerous business. So such family contacts could hardly be described as nepotism. It was more the creation of a tradition by a group of like-minded people, who included not just relatives but also childhood friends.

…all female roles

Ahmad-bay Badalbayli was one of them. His elder brother Badal-bay was a well-known public figure, enlightener and teacher, as well as a director in their theatre. And his nephews were the celebrated composer, Afrasiyab and the director Samsi Badalbayli. Ahmad-bay, what's more, happened to be the cousin of Uzeyir Hacibayov.

Ahmad-bay, who was a magnificent lyrical tenor, was quite different physically from his elder brother. The latter was muscular, tall and generally a physically strong person. Ahmad-bay, on the other hand, was short, had stooped shoulders and delicate features. For a theatrical family he was a real discovery. As we know, in those days women were not allowed to act in the theatre - it was not customary for members of the fair sex to perform on stage. But the Azerbaijani theatre in Susa did not have the money to hire foreign actresses (which, incidentally, the Baku little theatre, which existed as part of a non-classical secondary school at the beginning of the century, was once able to do). Eventually, the young Ahmad-bay had to play all the female roles. He trod the boards for the first time in 1910 at the age of 16. To say that work was tough for Ahmad-bay is an understatement. Many plays had to be re-written in order to reduce the number of female characters, but more often it was arranged so that they didn't appear in the same scene. Eventually, Ahmad-bay, who was the youngest member of the theatre, had to play several roles at the same time in one play, one even of a child, which is very difficult for an actor.

There was another problem, too, and that was the spectators. They often organized pogroms in the theatre. Several times they would catch Ahmad-bay, who was physically weak, in the street and beat him up. Incidentally, "Othello" was performed especially often precisely because of the small number of female parts in it.

The Nicat charity, which supported the theatre, tried several times to collect money to find a replacement for Ahmad-bay to play the female parts. In Tiflis at that time there were women who played in the theatre but none of them spoke Azeri or could sing. Because of this the actors joked that if they put on a performance in French they would find actresses prepared to play. Generally speaking, the alternatives to Azerbaijani theatres in those days were Kazan and Astrakhan. The Tatars living there came to Baku, taught Azeri and played here. But for Susa, the cultural, but, alas, not the financial capital, this was a pipe dream.

In order to reduce the pressure on Ahmad-bay, a decision was made to give him leading male parts, too. But this didn't help, either. In 1915, the young actor had to hide out at home for days and only go outside accompanied by friends or his brother, whose menacing look alone was enough to scare off the hooligans. But this couldn't last for long. Ahmad-bay was found work as a teacher in Ganca (which wasn't difficult because he spoke Russian and French well), where he lived under the assumed name of Miri until 1922. 

A new world

The Soviet authorities could be blamed for many things but their first years saw the dawn of culture and industry. Railways and factories were built, there was the "electrification of the whole country" and compulsory secular education was introduced. And the new authorities focused particular attention on culture, especially the cinema and the theatre. During the first ten years several theatres opened all over Azerbaijan, and those that had previously been outcast found themselves in demand in the new world.

In 1921 Ahmad-bay, back with his own name, returned to his native Susa and in 1923 opened his own theatre in Agdam. He was then only 29. Significantly, Ahmad-bay had before that been the first performer of female roles in all of Hacibayov's works. He played Leyli ("Leyli and Macnun"), Asli ("Asli and Karam"), Gulnaz ("If not that one, then this one", Gulcohra ("Arshin mal alan" ["The Cloth Peddler"]), Minnat xanim ("Husband and wife"), Tahmina ("Rustam and Sohrab") and Xursidbanu ("Shah Abbas and Xursidbanu"). 

In 1916 he starred in Azerbaijan's film comedy "Arshin mal alan", playing the part of Gulcohra. It has to be said that this film was the first and most successful commercial project of that time. It was funded by the Piron brothers' "Film" joint-stock company and brought the company and the actors considerable profits, which in those days amounted to recognition.

During Soviet times Ahmad-bay continued to play in the theatre, but only male roles - in his brother Uzeyir's operettas he finally portrayed Asker in "Arshin mal alan" and Sarvar in "If not that one, then this one", and also Rustam-bay in the same operetta. Ahmad-bay Badalbayli in time became a successful director and a leader and educator of the younger generation and received the title of Merited Artiste of Azerbaijan. Ahmad-bay Badalbayli numbers among the heroic actors of his time who, in spite of the danger from conservative sections of society, continued to serve the arts in his homeland in the name of all that is beautiful.