Parry to bring Elchin play to Spain

 


David Parry with Amanda Paul taking time out from the International Humanitarian Forum in Baku to see the sights. This was taken at the Shrine of the Prophet Noah.

Elchin Afandiyev is a man of many talents: academic, Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, and a leading playwright in his country. Little known in the West, his biggest English language fan has made it his mission to bring Elchin’s plays to a wider audience.

Dramaturge David Parry was the first person to put on an Elchin play in the UK, and earlier this year, he also brought Citizens Of Hell (with a cut down cast) to a small community theatre in North London, its English language and Western premiere. Having recently returned from a conference in the Azerbaijani capital Baku where he met the man himself, Parry says he will now be bringing the Elchin play Telescope not to London but to Madrid, in June of next year. He describes the play as a surreal comedy; it might also be pointed out that it is the mirror image of the aforementioned Citizens Of Hell.

Parry’s eventual aim is to make Elchin if not a household name then one that ranks alongside other major contemporary playwrights in the West. He is not alone in that endeavour; another Elchin play, My Favourite Madman, was put on at the world famous Edinburgh Fringe in August. It has to be said that at present there is not a great deal of competition in the UK, although London especially has long been and remains a centre for musical excellence with shows by giants Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John currently running in the West End.

[The above article was published originally November 29, 2013. Perhaps it should have been called Parry to take Elchin play to Spain.]

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