Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to identify the features of popularization of the idea of theater and
drama in the Kazakh community, through the first periodicals in their native language at the beginning of the
twentieth century. The events of the first decade of the twentieth century (the Russo-Japanese war, 1905,
elections to the State Duma, etc.), as it turned out, stirred up not only the political, but also the cultural life of
communities in the eastern regions within the Russian Empire. The awakening of consciousness was
reflected in the preference for visual means of communication, which at that time included theatrical
productions, circus and musical evenings. The periodical press of the Russian East, in this case Central Asia,
actively participated in the coverage of this process. It is curious that graduates of Jadidi educational
institutions have made a certain contribution to the popularization of the idea of the national theater and
drama. This social process is comparable in terms of goal-setting with a larger-scale all-Russian cultural and
educational process known as “Peredvizhniki”. The tendency to bring cultural achievements to the masses in
the last third of the nineteenth century found a response, which is important, in remote regions of Russia:
Magazines and newspapers in Tatar and Kazakh languages were published about the events of the theatrical
life of foreigners. The materials of the study were the press, published by the Arabic headset in a common
alphabet understandable to a number of Turkic–speaking peoples – the newspaper “Kazakh” and others.
The popularization of musical and dramatic works and stage art among the masses in the eastern regions of
the empire certainly had specific features. As a result, interest in theater and drama among the Turkicspeaking peoples of Russia was accompanied by intercultural exchange, referred to in the special literature as
the “import” of popular plays by Russian classics, with their subsequent processing (adaptation) to
ethnocultural features. The “theatrical” theme was used for the purpose of education and formation of civic
consciousness by the nascent Kazakh political parties; the genre of theater criticism was emerging.
