At the end of this summer, Astana residents witnessed a cultural event that could change the usual perception of poetry. The premiere of the Tarmaqtar Theater, the first poetry theater in Kazakhstan, took place in the capital. His debut production "Time is a silent witness" combined the power of poetic words and theatrical art, giving the audience not just a performance, but an emotional experience.

The play is based on the books "I will convey love in lines" and "My Lady wrote...", published by the "Tarmaqtar" publishing house. The staging was prepared by the famous director Farkhad Moldagali, the artistic director of the project is Elaman Toleutai, and the production was carried out by the director Serikzhan Aitkali. In the format of a sound drama, the audience was immersed in a space where time and love intertwine, and the poems of Kazakh poets come to life on stage accompanied by music.

From Instagram page to stage

The history of "Tarmaqtar" began several years ago with a literary page on Instagram. The project was conceived as a way to convey the aesthetics of Kazakh poetry to young people, using the modern language of visuals and SMM. Posts with bright designs quickly resonated: the audience grew, interest in poems increased.

"We started publishing excerpts that touch the heart. Then we collected them in a book - and the print runs sold out faster than we expected. This became a signal: people miss poetry," says project manager Rysgul Doszhan.

The project's books became bestsellers, and new formats - audio versions with QR codes, creative evenings - brought poetry even closer to the reader. The next step was to create a theater.

The main difference is professionalism

According to the organizers, the theater of poetry is not just a literary evening, but a full-fledged stage art. Staging, directing, acting - everything is done at a professional level.

A special pride is the cast. Darkhan Suleimenov, Tolkyn Nurbekova, Nurzhan Asylkhan, Bakytgul Serikbayeva and others came on stage. Viewers are used to seeing them in theater and cinema, but it was reading poetry that revealed the artists from an unexpected side.

"When an actor lives poetry, it is a completely different level of emotions. The viewer feels not just the text, but lives it together with the hero," Doszhan notes.

Youth as the main audience

From the very beginning, Tarmaqtar focused on young people. Without official invitations and the usual attributes of academic evenings - only sincere interest and energy of a new form. It was the youth who first accepted the project and turned it into a phenomenon.

Mission and plans

Over the years, Tarmaqtar has published four books and two literary diaries, collecting more than 200 authors. In addition, a separate collection "My Lady wrote..." included 100 works by Kazakh female poets.

"Our main mission is to popularize poetry. In the future, we want to ensure that authors receive royalties for publications. This is the next step," says Rysgul Doszhan.

The team is already preparing a new production - this time it will touch upon little-known pages of Kazakh poetry.

A new format for the cultural scene

Tarmaqtar has become not only a cultural experiment, but also a phenomenon that can set a new tradition in the literary life of Kazakhstan. The theater of poetry expands the usual boundaries of the genre, turning the reading of poems into a stage action, where the viewer becomes a witness to the dialogue of time, words and feelings.

And if the first steps of the project were taken thanks to enthusiasm and courage, now, according to its creators, the main attention will be paid to professionalism and the development of a poetic theater as a full-fledged institution.