InternationalThe age-old tradition of Armenian drama continues at Sundukian National Academic Theater
Published: Saturday March 21, 2009
The make-up room at the Sundukian Theater. Nyree Abrahamyan
Yerevan - Armenians have a rich history in the dramatic arts, dating back at least 3500 years to pagan times, when religious rituals themselves were theatrical performances. Centuries later, around 100 BC, the concept of theater in its more modern sense would begin to take root in Armenia, heavily influenced by Hellenistic culture.
According to Plutarch, Armenia's first official theater was built in the city of Dikranagerd by Dikran the Great in 69 BCE, 14 years before the opening of great Pompeii theater in Rome. Dikran's son, Artavazd II, who was reared in Greek culture, wrote several Greek tragedies, comedies and historical commentaries. When he became king, he built the second permanent public theater of Armenia in the old capital of Artashat. He is considered the first Armenian playwright and director.
From its early days well into the 18th century, Armenian theater would go through periods of growth and decline, as historic Armenia was divided and passed time and time again through the hands of different rulers. By the mid-19th century, theater was reemerging in a big way, both in Western Armenia and in the Caucasus.
The first Western Armenian amateur theater group was established by Srabion Hekimian in 1855. In the coming years, other small theater groups would form and their success would lead to the construction of new auditoriums and theaters throughout Constantinople. Plays were performed in both Armenian and Turkish, and it is said that the Armenians played a principal role in the birth of contemporary Turkish theater.
Many great Armenian playwrights emerged from Turkey during this period, including Bedros Turian (1852–1872), who is credited with breaking the rigidity of Armenian classicism by moving to vernacular usage, and Hagop Baronian (1843–1891), who satirized greed, vanity and hypocrisy in such classics as Apisoghom Agha and Medzabadiv Muratsganner ("Honorable Beggars").
Perhaps the most significant Western Armenian classical dramatist was Levon Shant (1869–1952), who not only wrote plays, but short stories, poems, essays and textbooks. He was also an important political figure and a lifelong member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Born in Constantinople and educated in Europe, he moved to Tbilisi where he joined the prestigious Vernatun Armenian literary group. During the 19th century and early 20th century, Tbilisi was the major Armenian cultural center of the Caucasus. Shant's first plays were published and performed there, including the symbolist drama, "Ancient Gods", which was translated to German, Italian, French, and Russian.
After escaping to Europe during the Armenian Genocide, Shant went to Yerevan and served as a member of parliament in the short-lived Armenian Republic (1918–1920). Upon the takeover of the Bolsheviks, he was imprisoned – and freed shortly thereafter by an underground movement. He fled to Tehran and later in his life, became the founder of the Hamazkayin cultural association and the Armenian academy of Beirut. His plays were banned in Soviet Armenia due to their symbolic revolutionary content, but are now frequently performed and highly acclaimed.
In the 1920s, there was a general trend among artists and intellectuals to move from old Armenian cultural centers in the Caucasus, like Tbilisi and Baku, to Yerevan, the new capital of the Armenian SSR. Among them was the great playwright and novelist Alexander Shirvanzade (1858–1935), who was born just outside of Baku. He lived most of his life and created the majority of his works there, finally moving to Yerevan in 1926.
Until the early 20th century, Yerevan was not much more than a village, but thanks in part to the new wave of intellectuals who came in to build the city up from scratch, it soon became a distinguished and reputable capital.
In 1922, what would soon be known as the Sundukian National Academic Theater was founded in Yerevan. It was the first theater company in present-day Armenia. Founded by members of the Portsarakan Tadron company, who had come to Yerevan from Tbilisi, the Sundukian Theater embodied the continuation of Armenian dramatic arts in the nation's new administrative and cultural center.
The theater was named after Gabriel Sundukian, the greatest Eastern Armenian playwright of the late 19th century. Sundukian (1825–1912) was born in Tbilisi and studied in France and Russia. He was the first dramatist to deal with the Armenian middle and lower classes, and his play "Pepo" is among the most widely performed in Armenia to this day.
For years, the Sundukian Theater was the only playhouse in Yerevan and soon after it was founded, it gained stature, attracting many prominent actors from across Western Armenia and the Caucasus. As there was a great demand for performances in the burgeoning capital, the theater built up a vast repertoire very quickly, ranging from Armenian plays to translations of classical, European and American pieces.
Ever-present on the playbill are productions of Armenian classics such as Derenik Demirchyan's "Kach Nazar", Baronian's comedies, Shant's dramas, and of course, Sundukian's masterpieces. The Sundukian Theater is also renowned for its impressive renditions of Shakespearean classics. Its early productions were so impressive that the first Shakespearean Festival and Conference in the Soviet Union was held in Yerevan.
Over the decades, many fine actors have graced the stage of the Sundukian Theater, such as its early favorites, Vahram Papazian (1888–1968) of Constantinople, who is reputed to have played Othello 3,000 times in the Armenian, Russian, and French languages and Hasmik Agopyan (1879–1947) of Nakhichevan, a reputed actress who was known all over the Caucasus simply as Hasmik. She was the leading actress of the theater from the day it opened in 1922.
