World comes to Tbilisi for annual theatre festival

More than ten theatre venues around Georgia’s capital Tbilisi will host local and international companies for the seventh instalment of the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre in a diverse program of productions.

World-famous troupes like the Akram Khan Company and Berlin’s Schaubühne Theatre will perform alongside Tbilisi’s celebrated Shota Rustaveli Professional State Drama Theatre and the novel Movement Theatre for a two-week program that will also serve a charity cause.

More than a dozen Georgian and foreign theatre companies will take part in the Festival’s entire program on stages and venues as diverse as their performing genres and styles; from the acclaimed Marjanishvili Theatre dating back to 1930 to the Liberty Theatre stage established in 2001. Funds raised at the various events will be donated to the June 13 Tbilisi flood relief fund.

See the trailer for the famous Akram Khan Company’s production Kaash below:

The event – opening this Friday - is expected to host an "unprecedented” number of participants for the Georgian Showcase Program, a Festival highlight. Festival director Ekaterina Mazmishvili said 82 company members would feature in the Program this year.

Mazmishvili said the event had generated increasing interest locally and from further afar, and revealed almost 40,000 visitors had enjoyed performances between 2009 and 2014 in the now-annual event.

The full program and detailed information on participating companies can be found on the official website here.

The Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre was established in 2009 by the Mayor of the city and the Culture Ministry.

This year’s Festival will run until October 8.

See the 2015 Festival trailer below: