See iconic plays by Marjanishvili Theatre in English

Tbilisi’s iconic Marjanishvili Theatre has invited non-Georgian speaking theatre enthusiasts in the city to see some of the company’s most celebrated plays over the next two weeks.

The theatre announced this week it would host three performances on Fridays of each week from January 13-27 with English subtitles.

The program will launch this Friday with a show of Shakespeare’s 1599 comedy As You Like It, staged at the Marjanishvili Theatre by its acclaimed director Levan Tsuladze.

Marjanishvili Theatre actors performed 'As You Like It' in the yard of the Svaneti Museum in Georgia’s north last year. Photo: Mestia Municipality Board/Facebook.

The production has received international acclaim after being presented at the 2012 Globe to Globe Festival in London honouring the legacy of Shakespeare.

Highlighting its spectacular reception at the festival, the show by the Tbilisi-based theatre was given a top rating of 5 stars in theatre review section of Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

The play was performed at venues in six cities across Georgia last year to mark 400 years since Shakespeare’s death.

On January 20, Marjanishvili’s program of subtitled stagings will be continued by The Visit of the Old Lady, directed by Sandro Eloshvili.

The production is based on the 1956 play of the same title by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Duerrenmatt and follows a story of a wealthy older woman offering residents of her former hometown a controversial bargain.

The program will conclude with Levan Tsuladze’s staging of the 17th Century comedy ‘Tartuffe’ by Moliere. Photo: Teona Kvezereli/Marjanishvili Theatre.

In the final show of the two-week program, Tsuladze’s adaptation of famous 17th Century comedy Tartuffe by Moliere will entertain the audience of the Tbilisi theatre.

Staged by Tsuladze, the play became a highlight of the Israel Festival of theatre in 2014, when it was performed at the Jerusalem Theatre.

The deeper we delved into the play, the better we realized that it was not exactly a comedy but rather the sad story of a man who tries to believe in something that does not really suit him,” said Tsuladze in his description of the production in an interview with Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper ahead of the festival.

The opening performance of the program of shows will be held on the Big Stage of the Marjanishvili Theatre, while The Visit of the Old Lady and Tartuffe will be performed on the Basement Stage of the venue.