Georgian Theatre Prize ’Duruji’ honours winners in stage art

The annual awards ceremony of Theatre Prize 'Duruji' on Tuesday honoured the best of Georgian theatre work over the past year, with five laureates claiming the major local prize.

Celebrated Georgian director David Doiashvili’s work Pillowman earned prizes for the director and actor Kakha Kintsurashvili.

Doiashvili was recognised with Direction of the Year for the production that premiered in 2016 at the Vaso Abashidze Music and Drama Theatre.

The ‘Duruji’ prize has become a major local theatre award since its inception in 2009. Photo: Gela Bedianashvili/Georgia’s Culture Ministry press office.

The prize was accepted for the director at the ceremony as he was not able to attend. Kintsurashvili was present to collect his Actor of the Year award for the role in Pillowman.

Natuka Kakhidze claimed the Actress of the Year award for her part in Mikheil Charkviani’s stage adaptation of Heinrich Boell’s The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum.

Kakhidze performed the title role of the 90-minute play at Tbilisi’s Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre, where it premiered in 2016.

The juries picked Tamar Okhikiani as Scenographer of the Year for the production The Orchestra ‘Titanic’, staged after play by Hristo Boytchev at the Valerian Gunia State Drama Theatre of Georgia’s Black Sea city Poti.

The production ‘The Orchestra ‘Titanic’’ was staged after play by Bulgarian author Hristo Boytchev. Photo: Poti Valerian Gunia Professional State Theatre.

Rounding off the awards, author Tamta Melashvili was distinguished with the Contemporary Play of the Year prize for the work Counting-out Game.

First published in Georgia in 2010, the novel is Melashvili’s debut work and is focused on the subject of teenage girls’ experience in conflict zone.

Selected following three months of the jury team’s deliberation over nominees, the winners were awarded at the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia on Tuesday.

A scene from Director David Doiashvili’s staged the production ‘Pillowman’. Photo: Vaso Abashidze Music and Drama Theatre.

They were selected from a shortlist of 21 nominees, itself drawn up from 33 initial submissions received from 18 theatres of Georgia.

The awards marked the 9th edition of 'Duruji', the leading Georgian theatre prize created to honour achievements in development of the country's famed theatre field.