Tashkent’s main cultural highlight is this progressive theatre, whose productions often touch on gay themes and racial subjects, to consternation of the more conservative elements of Uzbek society. Alongside the cutting-edge plays (performed in Russian but often with English subtitles) there are also occasional jazz concerts and art exhibitions in the lobby.
The Ilkhom’s director, Mark Weil, who founded the theatre in 1976, was tragically stabbed to death in 2007, allegedly for blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed in his Pushkin-inspired play Imitations of the Koran. Imitations of the Koran remains in the repertoire today.
