Dramaturgy Author Festival launched to develop Georgian "theatre language"

A Georgian stage art collective has launched Dramaturgy Author Festival, an event promoting theatre plays, authors and text-focused analysis of stage art, with the first edition hosting listeners at Tbilisi's Royal District Theatre on Friday.

Hosting participants in a reading of French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès' 1986 play In the Solitude of Cotton Fields, the opening event marked the launch of the festival intended to shift the customary focus of theatre shows in Georgia away from productions and onto texts they are based on.

Organised by the Chameleon collective, the Friday event involved a discussion of the body of work of Koltès - the author selected as the focus of the first edition of the festival. Translator Valeri Otkhozoria and philosopher Giorgi Maisuradze offered their thoughts on the playwright at the launch of the festival.

Organisers said the project would present translations of five of the French playwright's works, marking the group's first effort in creating a body of "high-quality and systemic" translations of foreign-language authors available in Georgian.

[The Georgian] theatrical review scene does not dedicate adequate attention to analysis of text, with the principal focus being on the production, on the show. We aim to ensure a better focus on the text [...], as it is a crucial basis of a theatre production.

- Chameleon collective

The objective is part of the collective's aim of facilitating discussions about theatre plays, produce reviews and promote play-focused analysis among stage art critics, all to ensure "promotion and reception" of dramaturgy for the local scene.

Intending to translate five plays by a highlighted playwright in each of the annual editions of the festival, the group picked Roberto Zucco, Return to the Desert, Black Battles with Dogs and The Night Just Before the Forests - some of Koltès' most prominent works - for the 2021 event.

The reading marks the ambition of the Chameleon group to produce 50 plays by 10 playwrights, at least 10 productions, as well as workshops, reviews and reports as part of the festival over the next decade.

They also aim to publish a collection of featured plays, and ensure a first production in the frames of their initiative in the coming theatre season. These goals are designed for a long-term objective of "refining theatre language and style" for the local scene.

The initiative for the festival follows projects by independent groups and state culture agencies with focus on contemporary stage art and dramaturgy over the recent years - from the New Drama Festival for experimental stage art, founded in 2018, to the culture ministry's programme supporting independent theatre critics, announced in October.