Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre reveals 2017 program featuring prominent shows, troupes

Some of the most acclaimed theatre productions from Europe will join best of Georgia's stage art in this year's program of the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre, unveiled in Tbilisi earlier today.

The ninth edition of the major annual event will offer theatre-goers the prospect of seeing award-winning Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski's widely praised staging The French.

Another highlight show of the international segment of the festival will see a retrospective documentary project by Germany's Staatstheater Karlsruhe troupe explore the dark chapters of European history for the audience.

In addition to the visiting theatres the event — widely regarded as one of the major cultural events of Tbilisi — will host best productions of local troupes over the past theatrical season, as well as plays staged by leading Georgian directors abroad.

The festival, awarded for "artistic quality, community engagement and international openness" within the EFFE Label 2017-2018 initiative of the European Festivals Association, will launch on September 18.

Troupes from eight European countries will visit Georgia's capital over the four-week event, with shows hosted at the capitals venues from Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre to Royal District Theatre and Expo Georgia fairground.

The quality of the upcoming festival's line-up was noted by award-winning Georgian director and festival's artistic council member Data Tavadze, who spoke to Rustavi 2 channel about the event's program.

A scene from 'The French', which was one of the most anticipated theatre premieres of 2015. Photo: Denis Gueguin/Nowy Teatr.

Tavadze said the visit of internationally acclaimed director Warlikowsky — and the performance of his staging The French — as "one of the greatest events of the entire festival history".

The production, praised as "one of the most anticipated premieres in 2015 theatrical season" by culture.pl online portal, uses French author Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time as its basis.

Warlikowski invokes Proust to reflect on the condition of today's Europe, ironically encapsulated by the French people of a hundred years ago, which explains the play‘s thought-provoking title", said the culture.pl summary for the show.

Tavadze, an award-winner of the Fast Forward 2016 European Festival for Young Stage Directors in Germany, also spoke about Stolpersteine Staatstheater, a documentary stage project of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.

The Stolpersteine Staatstheater project explores the dark chapters of European history and theatre. Photo: Florian Merdes.

The young Georgian director said the production, which explores the years of the Karlsruhe theatre under the Nazi regime, was a "a show-museum" offering the audience the opportunity to see a vivid picture of the dark era of European history.

In the Georgian Showcase program — a section heavily promoted by organisers — eight local companies will present their stagings.

Tbilisi's Vaso Abashidze Musical and Drama State Theatre will showcase their stage talent, which earned the troupe the Tony Bulandra Theatre Award of the Babel International Theatre Festival in Romania last year.

Actors of the Royal District Theatre, the home of Data Tavadze's celebrated stagings Women of Troy and Miss Julie, will go on stage to present Faces, another work of the emerging director.

Based on Japanese novelist Yasunari Kawabata's short story, the show sees the troupe turn the work "into a gestalt created by juvenile actors, where pieces are put together by a dramatic balance", said a preview from the festival.

A scene from 'Faces', staged at Tbilisi's Royal District Theatre. Photo: Data Giorgadze/Royal District Theatre.

In another form of highlighting Georgian theatre art, two works staged by directors David Doiashvili and Levan Tsuladze abroad will be presented in the Georgian Showcase.

Doiashvili's dramaturgical talents will be highlighted in The Cherry Orchard, presented by National Theatre of Bucharest, while Tsuladze's staging of The Tortoise by author Luigi Pirandello will be on stage thanks to Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione.

Festival director Ekaterine Mazmishvili told reporters the two Georgian directors would be presented to festival audience in a "completely new light" in the two works.

Founded in 2009 by Tbilisi City Hall, the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre has grown in profile and scale over the nine years of its existence.

The annual event aims to lean on the rich theatrical heritage of Georgia's capital to create an international event showcasing leading stage art productions for local and visiting audience.