Georgia’s capital to launch cooperation with European Theatre Convention

Georgia's capital Tbilisi is launching a four-year collaboration with the largest European network of public theatres with an international conference on theatre and technology starting this week.

From Mythology to Technology is a four-day program of public talks, workshops and performances bringing together over 50 theatre professionals from 12 countries.

It is organised by the European Theatre Convention (ETC), which connects over 40 theatres from more than 20 European states to "promote contemporary drama theatre, to support the mobility of artists and to develop artistic exchange throughout Europe and beyond".

The ETC holds annual theatre conferences across Europe. Photo: ETC.

The participating theatre professionals will hold meetings and discussions on new challenges for theatre in the digital era, as well as opportunities of using technology to draw in more audience and make shows more compelling.

Some of the questions under discussion will be whether technology increases attraction to theatre, how streaming technology for stage shows should be operated, and how growth and sustainability for the ETC network can be empowered.

An introduction to contemporary Georgian theatre making and talks on participatory schemes for theatre and ETC’s professional development programme are also on the busy agenda of the event.

The program will be interspersed with eight stage performances of celebrated productions by Georgian directors, including Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (staged by Mikheil Charkviani after play by Heinrich Boell) and Lady With a Dog (Levan Tsuladze after Anton Chekhov).

The ETC conference and general assembly will mark the start of the organisation's four-year-long cooperation with Tbilisi from October 26-29.