Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre to take place from September
By Mariam Chanishvili
Thursday, August 22
This year, Tbilisi International Theater Festival will take place from September 23 to October 24.
Plays will take place in different theatres of the capital of Georgia.
Eka Mazmishvili, the director of the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre and Marjanishvili Theatre, noted that the international festival is not only beneficial for the theater but the image of the country as a whole.
“In addition to expanding the aesthetic perspective, this is the fastest and shortest way to popularize the city: "During the festival, you represent the country, not only as a cultural space, but also to show what technical possibilities you have and how modern you think. As time goes on, I become more and more convinced that the festival is not just theater and art. It is politics, economics, social development. This is all that comes with this festival,” she said.
The program features various performances, including Johnny Got His Gun, Donka: A Letter to Chekhov, Birdie, the Tin Drum, Tartuffe, etc.
Johnny Got His Gun features Joe Bonham (Bottoms), a young American soldier hit by an artillery shell during World War I, lies in a hospital bed. He is a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. He remains conscious and able to reason, but his wounds render him a prisoner in his own body. As he drifts between reality and fantasy, he remembers his old life with his family and girlfriend (Kathy Fields).
Writer, Director, Lighting Designer and Choreographer of Donka: A Letter to Chekhov – is Daniele Finzi Pasca, who decided to discover Chekhov looking for particulars and details, both in his life and in the pages of his writings, and not only that, noting that he “thought of giving shape to the silences contained in the notes of his diaries and of creating images from his annotations.”
The great magic of the circus pays homage to Chekhov in a show of visions, delicate equilibriums, dancers, acrobats, and jugglers.
Tbilisi International was founded by Tbilisi Municipality, by the initiative of Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava in 2009. The charm of one of the oldest cities in the world, Tbilisi, its atmosphere and diversity, its culture and life, its vitality could create an unforgettable experience and inspiration for all participants.
The Festival runs every year by the end of September, beginning of October and is one of the major events in International life of Georgia. But not only - it is becoming one of the main performing arts events in Caucasia, attracting the attention of the most well-known, creative, provocative and innovative theater productions from the world, a meeting point of Europe and Asia, of many countries and places in one of the most beautiful, warm, unique theatrical and cultural Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
