Culture Ministry reveals unification of puppet theatres, plans for puppetry school, workshop, museum

Three Georgian professional puppet theatre companies will be unified to improve their management and creative work, while puppeteers in the country will have a workshop to produce the dolls, and a school to share their experience with the new generation of professionals, the Culture Ministry revealed on Sunday.

In the latest of announcements of initiatives and projects since the appointment of Thea Tsulukiani as the Minister a year ago, the culture body said it launched a reorganisation of the professional state puppet theatres in capital Tbilisi, western city of Kutaisi and southwestern city of Akhaltsikhe.

The process, formally started on Friday, will see the formation of a new body, entitled the Union of Professional State Puppet Theatres of Georgia. The Ministry wants to use the reform to "improve management [and] quality of creative work" at the theatres by ensuring "coordinated" development of their field in the country.

Developing a single theatre on the basis of the unification of the [troupes] will enable implementation of complex innovations and carrying out of significant projects

- Culture Ministry

Actors of the Tbilisi Puppet Theatre, which has toured abroad and received accolades over the recent years. Photo via Tbilisi Professional State Puppet Theatre

Beside joining forces of the three companies, the move involves plans for creating a joint workshop in Tbilisi where professional puppeteers will create theatre puppets and involve and develop modern technology in the process. The Ministry's announcement said the project would see the profession of puppeteers "obtain special support" though the initiative.

In another element of the reform, a workshop school will be unveiled at the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University in Tbilisi, in a bid to "restore the profession of puppetry" through education of new generations in the field, the state body announced.

A museum venue will be established to host expositions of theatre puppets from across the eras in addition to archival information about the field, the announcement also said. Puppet theatre directors will also be assisted by the reform, with plans for productions to be staged at different locations by directors alternating in the series.

The reform will seek to address the field of professional puppet theatres in Georgia, which has a long and rich history tracing roots back to the second half of the 19th century. The current troupes in Georgia were established in the 20th century, with the Giorgi Mikeladze Tbilisi Professional State Puppet Theatre formed in 1934, and the Kutaisi Iakob Gogebashvili Professional State Puppet Theatre in Kutaisi founded in 1946.