Intense pantomime show ‘not to be missed’

Terenti Kvirkvelia, the Georgian poet, was born in 1897 in Tsalenjika, a village in what used to be called Kolkhi and is now known as Meghrailia (western Georgia). He was an unusual person—perhaps not a well-balanced one—who suffered from a mental disorder and led a solitary, bohemian existence. His sad life came to an end when, at the age of 37, he committed suicide.

Kvirkvelia had a deep interest in spirituality and religious mysticism. He used to spend nights in cemeteries, and it is likely that his nocturnal meditations provided inspiration for much of the poetry he wrote under the pseudonym Terenti Graneli. With titles like "Requiem," "Mourning Lines,” “Tombs of the Soul," and "Memento Mori," readers are left in no doubt about what to expect. There are many who appreciate his "dark" themes, and Amiran Shalikashvili has brought his interpretation of Kvirkvelia's life, based on Revaz Mishveladze's "Terenti Graneli or Pink Carnation Thrown to the Moon," to the stage at the Pantomime Theatre on Rustaveli Avenue.

The show opens with Kvirkvelia's mother going through a prolonged and painful birthing in which her facial contortions and body movements clearly convey her suffering. Once this process peaks, the players part and we see Kvirkvelia, dressed in black with a contrasting white scarf, lying in a fetal position on the stage. This ten minute opening scene is one of the most captivating I have seen in a long time.

We are then taken through aspects of his youth prior to his departure for Tbilisi, and this period culminates in a powerful cemetery scene in which Graneli (it is likely that by this stage in his life he was known to all by that name) kneels, seemingly in devout supplication, before an apparition of Christ on the cross with two women, probably Christ's mother and Mary Magdalene, looking on. The potent mixture of music, mime, movement and sound effects result in something quite phenomenal.

Graneli's arrival in Tbilisi, his exclusion from society and his joining in the fight against the Bolsheviks lead up to a highly emotive and memorable finale.

Amiran Shalikashvili's troupe of talented, youthful, versatile and energetic performers—about twenty of them, including his son, Amiran, who has the leading role, perform on a bare stage with the minimum of props, and it is quite extraordinary how they succeed in capturing the imagination with little else but mime and movement.

"Terenti Graneli" is regularly staged at the Pantomime Theatre. It lasts for about an hour and there is no dialogue. Unlike most modern pantomime, this is pretty serious stuff, and for anyone who has an interest in Georgian culture this is one show not to be missed.