Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Theatro Technis in London has hosted the premiere of Citizens of Hell, a play by Azerbaijani People`s Writer Elchin Afandiyev.

The staging was sponsored by Azerbaijan`s Ministry of Youth and Sport and supported by Azerbaijan`s Embassy in the UK.

Speaking to the launch ceremony, producer David Parry provided an insight into the play.
Azerbaijani Ambassador Fakhraddin Gurbanov emphasized the importance of culture diplomacy. He said cultural events played the role of a bridge between nations, bringing people closer to each other.

The Ambassador spoke of Elchin`s life and career, saying he has authored more than 100 books with his works translated into more than 40 languages.

Citizens of Hell at Theatro Technis was a world first: the first time it had ever been performed either in the West or in English, according to the UK media.

Set in Baku during WWII, the play is described as a surrealist nightmare exploring the grim mechanics of moral paralysis, sexual frustration with an undertow of the primal fear of strangers.

The play has only three characters: a husband and wife, and a mysterious visitor to their 5th floor apartment on New Year's Eve 1937-1938.

Elchin Afandiyev is an Azerbaijani writer, professor and the Deputy Premier wrote his first novel when he was 16 years old which was published in Azerbaijani Youth magazine in 1959. So far, nearly 100 books of Afandiyev were translated and published in English, French, German, Spanish, Turkish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Arabic, Persian, Mandarin, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Croatian, Georgian, Lithuanian, Moldovan, Turkmen, Uzbek, Kazakh, Tajik, Serbian and other languages. There have been about 5 million copies sold worldwide.