Akbala September 13, 2026, 18:00

Aruzhan Oktyabr

AKBALA

A Ballet in Two Acts

Based on Abdi-Jamil Nurpeisov’s trilogy Blood and Sweat

Production Team:
Choreographer – Arshak Galumyan (Germany)
Conductor – Nurzhan Baibusinov, Honored Worker of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Librettist – Shynar Omarova
Chief Choirmaster – Aliya Temirbekova, Honored Worker of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Set Designer – Eleonora Peronetti (Italy)
Assistant Choreographer – Thomas Klein (Germany)
Lighting Designer – Tatyana Mishina (Russia)
Costume Designer – Aziza Saimova
Artistic Director of the Ballet Troupe – Gulzhan Tutkibayeva, People’s Artist of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Cast

• Akbala
• Yelaman
• Tanirbergen
• Sudyr Akhmet, fisherman
• Karakatyn, Dos’s wife
• Tanirbergen’s first wife
• Fyodorov, owner of “Aralpromsol”
• Dos, Yelaman’s friend, fisherman
• Old Man Suieu, Akbala’s father

Act I

Tanirbergen is a wealthy, handsome young man of noble origin. He and the beautiful young woman Akbala are drawn to one another and often meet in secret at the edge of the village. Akbala is the daughter of Suyeu, an honest, plain-spoken old man with a stubborn temper. Years earlier, while their children were still infants, Suyeu had promised his friend Nauan that the two would one day marry. Nauan, who was Elaman’s father, had since died, but Suyeu kept his word and gave Akbala in marriage to Elaman. Tanirbergen, for his part, was already engaged to a woman of equal standing, chosen for him by his family. Though her heart still belonged to Tanirbergen, Akbala did not dare defy her strict father or break with the customs of her people, and so, against her own wishes, she became Elaman’s wife. She had been her parents’ only, much-loved daughter.

Elaman brings his beautiful, proud young bride to a fishing village on the shore of the Aral Sea, where an old hut at the edge of the settlement becomes their home. With each passing day his love for her grows. Though he comes home each evening worn out from a long day’s fishing, he always helps with the housework, wanting to spare her any hardship. But when he sees how sad and distant she is, he tells himself she has simply not yet grown used to life by the sea. In truth, though, Akbala’s heart still belongs to Tanirbergen.

When Elaman learns that Akbala is expecting a child, his joy has no limit, and he hurries home from the sea without fail. One day, while Elaman is away fishing, Tanirbergen comes to see Akbala. Karakatyn, the wife of the fisherman Dos, sees Tanirbergen dismount in front of Elaman’s house and rushes to tell her mother-in-law, her husband, and the neighbors. But because Elaman’s household is so well respected in the village, no one believes Karakatyn’s gossip, and the villagers refuse to stain the good name of Akbala with such talk. Meanwhile Elaman, who had set out to fish at dawn, hurries home carrying his catch, his mind full of thoughts of his pregnant wife. As he nears the house, he sees Tanirbergen’s horse tied by the door. Jealousy pierces him to the core and rage nearly overwhelms him, but for his wife’s sake he masters himself and goes inside. There he finds Akbala pouring tea for her guest, her face bright, her spirits unusually high. For his wife’s peace of mind, Elaman treats Tanirbergen as an honored guest and, with great effort, sees him politely on his way. No sooner has Tanirbergen left than sorrow again settles over Akbala, and a coldness grows between husband and wife.

Despite a sudden storm and worsening weather, Fyodorov, master of the Aral Fishing and Salt Company, orders the fishermen out onto a sea not yet safely frozen. The fishermen protest, but fearing that his anger might cost them their gear and leave them to starve, they are forced to obey. Fyodorov treats the hired fishermen as barely human, beating and abusing them as he pleases; he thinks of himself as the sole master of the sea and behaves with the greatest arrogance. Akbala senses that trouble is coming and begs Elaman not to go to sea. Though he longs with all his heart to stay at the side of his wife, who is due to give birth any day, Elaman, afraid of losing his livelihood and leaving his family without bread, is forced to set out with the other fishermen.

Under the force of the storm, the ice breaks apart, and the fishermen are swept out to open sea on a drifting ice floe. Through the long night, a struggle between life and death unfolds. Exhausted and frostbitten, the men on the breaking ice suffer terrible losses. When the survivors, by some miracle, make it back to shore, Fyodorov, the Russian merchant, without even asking who has lived and who has died, sets at once to counting his gear. In a fit of fury, Elaman strikes him dead with an ice pick.

Akbala sets out toward the sea in search of Elaman, who has not returned through the night. A fierce wind sweeps her off her feet, and she falls into a pile of snow beside the house. Neighbors rush to help her. That same day, Akbala gives premature birth to Elaman’s son. For killing Fyodorov, Elaman is convicted and sent to prison. Akbala is left utterly alone in the dark, cold hut with her newborn child.

Act II

Alone with her newborn child in the dark hut, battered by the wind, Akbala sinks into despair. She is filled with resentment toward Elaman. “Had he only listened to me that day and not gone out to sea,” she says bitterly, “he would not have killed a man or ended up behind bars. He gave no thought at all to us.” It is in this hour of bitter loneliness that Tanirbergen comes knocking at her door. Worn down by isolation, Akbala, forgetting even her nursing child, falls into his arms. Their long-starved hearts unite as one, easing at last the pain of their long separation. Toward dawn, tearing himself away from her, Tanirbergen slips away quietly before the village wakes.

Tanirbergen hires Sudyr Akhmet – a lazy, worthless boaster from Elaman’s village – to act as his go-between with Akbala, promising him a horse if he serves his purpose well. Sudyr Akhmet sets about deceiving Akbala with great cunning, even spreading the false news that Elaman has died. Not content with this, he persuades her to send her child to his grandparents. Realizing that once the child is gone nothing will stand between Akbala and Tanirbergen, her father takes his grandson to raise as his own. Feeling herself free at last, Akbala agrees to become Tanirbergen’s toqal – his junior wife – and runs away with him under cover of night.

Akbala’s arrival as junior wife stirs up the fierce anger of Tanirbergen’s baibishe, his senior wife. The ruin of Elaman’s household and the shame of Akbala’s new life likewise enrage her father, Suyeu. Yet Tanirbergen’s love for Akbala only grows stronger, and for a time the two live together in happiness and harmony.

Having given Tanirbergen a child, Akbala persuades her husband to invite her parents, hoping to receive their blessing. Tanirbergen sends a messenger to Suyeu, but the old man attacks the messenger with his whip, beating him savagely and driving him off covered in blood. Deeply insulted, Tanirbergen flies into a rage, and Akbala is plunged into profound sorrow. From that day on, his affection for her turns cold. One day, when Akbala speaks of her grief, he tells her sharply, “The door stands open – you may go.” As soon as the baibishe hears this, she seizes Akbala’s child, born of Tanirbergen, and drives Akbala from the yurt in disgrace. Falling in with a caravan of fish traders, Akbala makes her way to the town of Shalkar.

Having served his sentence, Elaman is released from prison and returns to his homeland. Dos and Karakatyn welcome him with joy. Shaped by the hardships he has endured, Elaman becomes a man close to the people – an unyielding champion of freedom and justice, a voice for those who have none.

Akbala, meanwhile, is condemned to endless torment of conscience. Denied the chance to hold either of her two children, she is forced to wander from one strange doorstep to another, seeking shelter under roofs that are not her own. Looking back on a life divided between Elaman and Tanirbergen, she judges herself by the harsh standard of honor, and by that standard she cannot forgive herself. Crushed beneath the weight of her guilt, she takes her own life.