New “unprecedented” puppet theatre to offer shows in Tbilisi after launch

A new theatre space in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi is set to offer a fusion of puppet and object shows after its launch as an “unprecedented” venue “with no analogues” in the post-Soviet space, the Ministry of Culture said on Monday.

Doll House is a new private theatre launched in a historical area of a Soviet-era film studio in the city, with the body saying it would bring the stage art form combining the elements to the country.

The Ministry said the theatre was being founded following an idea by director Nika Sabashvili, and would serve as a “multifunctional cultural and educational space”.

It added the venue would host “creative evenings”, salon meetings and cinema screenings in addition to stage productions, while also working to “facilitate professional development of young film artists and showcase their works”.

The opening of the new theatre was hosted with Sabashvili's play The Director's Wife, based on the story of Tamar Tsulukidze, the wife of the celebrated 20th century Georgian theatre director Sandro Akhmeteli.

The new theatre is part of a number of projects designated for the renovation of the area of the former cinema studio on Aghmashenebeli Avenue in Tbilisi, and follows the opening of a studio named after the celebrated photographer Iuri Mechitov, a puppet workshop, an actor casting agency and an exhibition space.