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Mongolian
Arts and Culture > Theater
 THEATER
Throughout Mongolian theater history, fairy tales,
legends, romantic stories, and religious events have been
expressed through music, songs, dances, and drama. This genre
is rooted in the ancient Mongolian tradition of arranging
noisy, crowded festivities where singing, dancing, and worshipping
of Gods were central. There was royal entertainment, called
Palace Theater, as well as folk theater and ritual shows for
the common people.
Under the domination of the Manchurian Empire,
theatrical entertainment was strongly influenced by Chinese
culture. There were numerous Chinese theatrical spots spread
across Mongolia in those times.
From the early 1930s, through Soviet Russian
influence, European theatrical art was introduced to Mongolia.
Mr. A. Efremov, the student and follower of the first Soviet
professor of theater K. S. Stanislavsky, personally contributed
to the training of Mongolia's professional theater artists.
The State Academic Drama Theater was established
in 1931 as the State Central Theater, in a building which
no longer exists called "Bombogor Nogoon." Since
the debuted with "Truth", over 450 national and
classic pieces have been performed on its stage. From this
mother organization, a number of organizations and theaters
were born: the State Circus (1940), State Puppet Theater
(1948), State Children and Youth Central Theater (1950),
Academic Opera (1963), and the Music and Drama Theaters
of Khovd, Bayan-Ulgiy and Dornod aimags.
Mongolia theater artists made their first
guest tour abroad in 1933 when S. Buyannemekh's production
"The Dark Nation" was performed in Moscow. Since
that time, Mongolian artists have performed in China, Hungary,
Germany, Korea and the Buriatia and Kalmuk Republics (Russian
areas where Mongols live.) Their repertoire includes national
and classic plays, including W. Shakespeare's "Othello",
Sophocles' "King Edipe", E. Voinich's "Gadfly",
D. Namdag's "Orolmaa", J. Shagdar's "White
Mother Goddess", and S. Jargalsaikhan's "I wish
men".
The Mongolian leaders H. Choibalsan and
U. Tsedenbal ordered the establishment of the State Children
and Youth Central Theater. The main purpose of this theater
was to help educate children about the party, motherland and
Stalin's and Lenin's doctrine. The theater regularly translated
and performed works of the Soviet Union, and toured to all
parts of the country. During its time, the theater also put
on works of domestic writers and won the respect of audiences
in German, Russian, and Bulgaria. In the late 1990s, the theater
was privatized with management privatization, and now no longer
exists.
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