The Cry of the Queen

“Do not cry, and do not ask for forgiveness”, says the Queen of the Alay Mountains as she witnesses the execution of her own son by Russian Generals.

The Cry of the Queen tells the story of the legendary Kurmanjan Datka, the first female ruler in Central Asia. In 1862, her husband Alimbek, king of the Alay mountains, died at the hands of traitors. Kurmanjan immediately took his crown and dedicated herself to fulfilling his political vision.

Not long after, Russian General Skobelev attacked the Kyrgyz rebels and captured their Alay queen. Kurmanjan was eventually forced to sacrifice her own son in order to rescue her people from certain genocide. The Cry of the Queen is about this tragic page in the history of Kyrgyzstan.

Kurmanjan died in 1907, at the age of 97, and despite a series of tragic life events, she never broke off relations with Russia.

The Cry of the Queen is a play in folklore – ethnographic form; in fact it is theatrical ritual. Its unconventional dramaturgy also explores customs to reveal the philosophy of the Kyrgyz people, fusing elements in unusual ways to capture and convey the spirit of a whole nation.