რუსთაველის თეატრი

Tonight I saw a performance at the Rustaveli Theatre.  It was rather stunning.  I do not know how to say the title in english, but in Georgian it is ბიდერმანი და ცეცხლისწამკიდებელნი.  It was a story about a man that lets someone stay at his house, who is a suspected criminal.  Supposedly this man is an arsonist, but the host does not believe this.  Over the course of the play the host gets more and more agitated and is eventually worked up to the point that he sets his own house on fire so that his guest will not do it.

The staging was very detailed and the performers incredibly specific.  There was an overall performance quality of pantomime and clowning.  I should say that the theater is HUGE.  If you think of on old opera house with multiple horseshoe balconies this is the style of  the Rustaveli's main stage.  So the expressive and larger than life portrayal fit in this space well.

Here is a publicity photo and a couple production stills I pulled offline.  I did not see photo credits.  My apologies to the photographers...

The curtain call was really intense.  It went on for a long time, with multiple individual bows, and a large dancing full company bow.  The audience loved the show.  They were all on their feet clapping in unison, and kept clapping for I would say (and I am not exaggerating) four to five minutes.

The theaters here in Georgia work on a repertory fashion.  Something that I don't think we have had for a while in the states.  When I say rep I mean when a show has it's premiere it is two or three days, then there are other shows immediately after it, and maybe it will be shown again in a week or two.  If a show keeps selling then they keep bringing it back.  The Rustaveli is constantly creating new pieces and if they are really successful then they run for a long time.  If not they get phased out.

This is not just the Rustaveli.  The show I saw last night at the Royal District Theater has been running for two years.  It is a smaller show and at one of the mid sized theaters.  It shows a couple times a month.

Tomorrow I am going to see Robert Sturua's production of 12 Angry Men.  Very interested to see what he does with a much more naturalistic script...

On another note I am getting a tiny bit better with my Georgian.  It is a difficult language, but being in the country really helps to get a grasp of it.  I may start taking classes in the next day or two.

More tomorrow.

-C