The Camel's Eye

Radio drama based on the story of the same name by Chingiz Aitmatov.

The action takes place on the steppe, in a small collective of people who were sent to develop virgin lands and have been cut off from “big life.” Kemal, a curious, modest teenager who lovingly watches life and nature, a dreamy romantic who has only recently left the schoolbench, ends up working under the harsh and embittered tractor driver Abakyr—a skinflint and an egoist to the bone. With a kind of relish, Abakyr tries to mock Kemal’s bright dreams and good intentions, break and humiliate the teenager, plunge his pure soul into the prosaic and cruel everyday world.

Dramatization author: Valentin Vlasov
Composer: Irina Yakushenko
Director: Pyotr Kuleshov

Characters and performers:
Kemel — Oleg Tabakov
Abakyr — Gennady Frolov
Kalipa — Yevgeniya Kozyreva
Sadabek — Leonid Veitzler
Aldey — Natalya Krinskaya
Girl — Lyudmila Krylova
Sorokin — Dmitry Orlovsky
Symphony orchestra p/u Emina Khachaturyan

Recording from 1963