Nino Kharatishvili’s latest novel to have stage premiere at Hamburg theatre
Author Nino Kharatishvili has won awards and critical acclaim for her literary work in Germany. Photo: Georgia Made by Characters.
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The Cat and the General, the latest novel by award-winning German-based author Nino Kharatishvili will have its stage premiere at Hamburg’s Thalia Theatre this summer.
The German Book Prize-nominated work has been adapted for stage by Jette Steckel, winner of the 2007 Theatre Today Young Director of the Year Award and the 2011 Rolf Mares Prize for her production of Don Carlos at the Thalia Theatre.
The staging will debut in Hamburg in August, bringing to the stage Kharatishvili’s story of “people traumatised by war in many different ways”, in the words of the author.
Alexander Orlov, a Russian service member-turned oligarch who struggles to reconcile with memories of his service during the devastating war in Chechnya in the 1990s, is one of the protagonists of the story.
The Cat and the General’ will have its world premiere at the Thalia Theatre this summer:
Kurzer Überblick über alle Premieren am #Alstertor #spielzeit1920 #thaliapk pic.twitter.com/JjXXY9mGep
— Thalia Theater (@ThaliaTheater) April 12, 2019
A teenage girl Nura, harbouring plans for her life when the Russian troops arrive in her village during the conflict, and a young Georgian actor resembling her, are two other principal characters.
Kharatishvili’s script features the two storylines from different periods — the 1995 story centred around Nura, and the 2016 reality of Orlov’s new life and the Georgian woman.
It is [Orlov’s] aim to hold himself and his comrades to account [for brutalities of the war]. To do this he needs the help of a young, Georgian actress ‘Cat’ who is the spitting image of Nura,” — reads a summary of the story.
Since its nomination for the German prize, The Cat and the General and its author have also featured in reading events for the novel in cities including Zurich, Hamburg, Essen and Stuttgart.
The novel is also coming to Polish-speaking readers next month, with the book set to be published by Krakow-based Open Publisher.
The novel is coming to Polish-language readers next month. Photo: otwarte.eu.
It is the latest work by the Georgian author to receive publisher attention as well as theatre adaptations. Last year the Thalia Theatre brought its production of Eighth Life (for Brilka), an award-winning novel by Kharatishvili, to the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre.
The 2015-published book earned Kharatishvili Germany’s prestigious Bertolt Brecht Prize for Literature and marked her major breakthrough on the German scene. She also received the Anna Seghers Prize in recognition of her "versatile and great work”.
Born in Tbilisi, Kharatishvili moved to Germany in 1995 and published works including Radio Universe and The Barbarians. Her latest work, set for theatre debut in Hamburg, was released last year by the Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt publishing house.