A press conference on three events planned in Tashkent was held on 4 May at Ilkhom Theatre, UzReport.com reported.

The briefing was attended by the Art Director of Ilkhom Mark Vayl, the Director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Office in Uzbekistan Naylya Rezyapova, the coordinator of the Geothe Institute’s programmes Ravshan Israilov, an Academician, pedagogue and artist Bahodyr Jalal, an actor Said Hudaibergenov and the Director of the video-series in the Oresteia Talgat Hasanzanov.

At the briefing it was announced that three events – a presentation of the joint project on the staging of Aeschylus’ Oresteia, a seminar-discussion on "Oresteia in Uzbekistan and Germany" organised by the Geothe Institute in Tashkent, and the opening of Bahodyr Jalal’s personal exhibition entitled "Plus&Minus" – will be held.

The preview of the Oresteia is scheduled for 11 May. A point to note, preview is not a premier, but a preliminary staging of the play, as a form of adaptation of the new project.

"We need to polish the performance before the premier," said Mark Vayl. "continue to rehears and introduce changes. The official premier will be held in fall after the opening of the new season at Ilkhom".

"We haven’t had projects as big in scale as Oresteia in many years," said Vayl. "In the 1980s, Oedipus and Antigone were staged at the Khamza Theatre. For a quarter of a century, Uzbekistan has lived without ancient Greek tragedies, without the classics of world culture. The play combines the best speech, play, rock-music, multimedia – everything that, in our opinion, makes a good modern Theatre. Oresteia is a Theatre of Theatres and it is worth everything that can be put into it to captivate today’s "formatted" (spoiled) by the television audience."

Said Khudaybergenov, who performed the leading role in the play, said it was not an easy job for him. "I am still not fully comfortable when performing the role. When I was told I would perform Orestes’ part, it took me long time to figure out how to portray the image of this tragic hero, because in life I love to smile… I am still searching, trying to solve the tasks of this role for myself, trying to find the keys to it."

The project on the staging of the play was initiated by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. "The Foundation is a socio-political organization," said Naylya Rezyapova. "And theatre is an unfailing tool to build dialogue, to deliver the messages about the spiritual values, ideas and viewpoints. We’ve chosen Ilkhom because it is the oasis of free cultural thought in the whole Central Asia. It has traveled with its plays and performed at more than 25 international festivals in Germany, Russia, US, countries of Central Asia. Ilkhom will perform the role of a bridge between the West and the East. The play will be staged in Russian language, which will provide an opportunity to stage it in all other countries of Central Asia."

Kristina Gunter told about the seminar scheduled for 12 May. The seminar entitled "The history and transformation of the Oresteia in Germany" will be conducted by Jens Gross, the Chief Dramatist at the Drama Theatre of Frankfurt. Participants of the seminar will then discuss the socio-political and cultural changes in the antique play on today’s stage.

Ilkhom will also host the exhibition of the Artist Bahodyr Jalal, an Academician, pedagogue and one of the brightest masters in Tashkent, who is always new, interesting, dynamic and large in scale. His works are kept at the State Art Museum of Uzbekistan, Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), Urgench Art Gallery, as well as museums and galleries of Belgium, UK, and other countries. Perhaps this exhibition will surprise many of the admirers of his art.