Theatre director Levan Tsuladze’s play wins awards in Greece

A theatre production by celebrated Georgian director Levan Tsuladze triumphed at a prestigious Greek contest dedicated to revealing the best in stage performance and creativity.

On Tuesday winners of the 2016 Theatrical Audience Awards by Athens-based culture magazine Athinorama were revealed, with Tsuladze's 2015 show Crime and Punishment sweeping three of the eight awards of the competition.

Winners of the prestigious annual award were chosen by theatre-goers who had voted on a shortlist of nominees in categories ranging from Best Performance to Best Lighting.

See the trailer for director Levan Tsuladze's theatre production 'Cime and Punishment' below:

The awards singled out the best shows and performers from a shortlist of ten productions from the 2015-2016 theatre season in Athens.

The final results saw the Georgian director's show win Best Direction, Best Male Role Performance and Best Scenography.

Tsuladze, who works as artistic director of Tbilisi's Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre, received the direction prize for his work on the play.

A scene from the play 'Crime and Punishment', staged by Tsuladze in collaboration with the Anesis Theatre of Athens. Photo from the Anesis Theatre.

In addition, the Best Male Role award went to Greek actor Tassos Iordanidis for the role of Raskolnikov, the main protagonist of Dostoyevsky's work and the theatre production.

Completing the show's triumph at this year's awards, scenographer Stavros Litinas received an award for his stage design for the play.

The play Crime and Punishment was staged by Tsuladze in collaboration with the Anesis Theatre in Greece's capital Athens and premiered in October 2015.

Greek actor Tasos Iordanides (L) has been praised for his role as the play's main protagonist Rodion Raskolnikov. Photo from Anesis Theatre.

The play is based on a novel by 19th Century Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky and follows student Rodion Raskolnikov in his moral and emotional struggles to execute a criminal plan for personal gain in city St. Petersburg in Tsarist Russia.

The novel was regarded as "one of the most important works" by Dostoyevsky on ethics, law and human nature, read the profile of Tsuladze's staging by the Anesis Theatre.

The Georgian director also worked extensively on works by Russian classical authors at the Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre in Tbilisi.

Among other productions, he staged the play Diary of a Madman based on a well-known work by Russian dramatist Nikolai Gogol and The Lady with the Dog based on a piece by writer Anton Chekhov.

The Theatrical Audience Awards by Athinorama have been held over the last four decades and aimed to revel the best of theatrical acting, direction, stage design and more.