Farewell to Tbilisi

Most of the international visitors left Tbilisi after the performance of Doiashvili's Macbeth (or Sturua’s Hamlet) on Monday night. I was in a bar with the cast of Macbeth and other friends, including the Minister of Culture, until 5.00am so my last morning in Tbilisi was spent in bed!

There are two things you can do after a late night in Tbilisi; beer and khingales (a kind of dumpling and a popular Georgian speciality); or khachapuri Adjaruli. Khachapuri, a cross between pizza and cheese pie, is a staple of Georgian cuisine and each region has its own variation, made with its local cheese. Adjara’s version is shaped like a boat and has a raw egg and butter floating on the cheese. Mixing it up as it cooks in the heat of the bread creates a delicious cheesy scrambled egg and is a definite pick me up; it’s probably also instant heart attack but who cares. There’s a fabulous café just next to the Marjanishvili Theatre specialising in the dish so that’s where I had brunch with British actress Linda Marlowe and Beso Kupreishvili (whose Fingers Theatre show had delighted audiences on the first day).

I had a number of missions in Tbilisi: firstly, as a member of the Festival Board, it was to do all I could to help ensure a successful festival; secondly, I wanted to introduce British directors and producers to the Georgian theatre scene, which I think I achieved by having a group of a dozen individuals from the UK at the festival; and thirdly I wanted to encourage collaborative projects between the UK and Georgia.

Thus it was that I’d asked British actress Linda Marlowe to come out to Tbilisi and, thanks to support from the British Council, she was there for four days. Some time earlier Beso had asked me about a project he’d delivered in Lithuania; he’d created a production of Hamlet with a Lithuanian actor plus his puppets and wondered about repeating it in another country. What he wanted was an actor who had never, and would never play Hamlet. This actor would be given the chance to play Hamlet with the puppets playing the rest of the cast. Linda Marlowe struck me as exactly the right kind of person. She’d never played Hamlet (wrong sex) and is a remarkable artist who’s always pushing herself to try new things. It seemed like a great idea for the Edinburgh Festival and she came to Tbilisi to meet Beso and see if they’d get on.

They got on immediately and were instantly throwing ideas around. Linda spent the day with the company on Monday and the chemistry between them was electrifying. This was clearly a project to pursue. I asked if it might be possible to get some photographs of Linda with the puppets and it was arranged to do a full photo call later that afternoon.

Linda Marlowe and the 'cast' of My Hamlet

Another matchmaking exercise was between British storyteller Mike Maran and the creator of the puppets for Lady With a Dog, Nino Namicheishvili. Mike had approached me over a year earlier about an idea he’d had in his head for a while, which he thought could benefit from some puppetry, and I’d floated the idea with Nino. Sometimes things don’t work out and, whilst they liked each other enormously when they met over the weekend and were both enthusiastic about the idea, it became clear that the project wouldn’t work in the way that had been imagined. It could still happen but meanwhile it’s back to the drawing board. And since returning to the UK Mike has come up with another project he’d like to do with Nino…

Nino had also enjoyed the party of the previous evening and her preferred remedy was the beer and khingales route, so while Linda went out to see Mtskheta with members of the Fingers company after the photocall, I joined Nino for more food. Well, it was about four hours since I’d had the khachapuri.


That evening it was back to the international theatre festival with shows from an Armenian company and Gecko, a physical theatre company from the UK with their interpretation of Gogol’s The Overcoat. I stayed with Gecko because it had been my suggestion to Eka Mazmishvili, Director of the festival, that this would make an excellent show for Georgia. Eka saw the show earlier in the year at the Lyric Hammersmith and happily she agreed.                         

It was an expensive show, made possible only be a generous contribution from the British Council, and, because of the expense, Eka had programmed it for three nights – the longest run in the festival. It was also the first time that two international performances had gone head to head as the Armenians were playing the Rustaveli at the same time as Gecko were in the Marjanishvili, and I was slightly worried that it might not attract full houses. Sure enough, there were a few empty seats that night but the response at the end was rapturous. At the post-show party Eka was being plagued by phone calls from people wanting seats for the following two nights; news travels fast in Tbilisi.

 

Gecko describes the show as being ‘inspired by Gogol’ but ‘created by Gecko’. Certainly anybody expecting to see a retelling of Gogol’s short story would be confused. This eye-boggling show takes the spirit of the book and creates a series of astonishing scenes capturing the life of the downbeaten clerk in a Kafkaesque office and his tiny rented room who dreams of the girl at the next desk, unattainable he feels because of his shabby clothes.

The cheers from the audience were still ringing in my head as I made my way to the airport the next morning. Sad, as always, to be leaving Tbilisi I pondered on the impact of the festival. It had been a controversial event in some quarters because the impetus for creating the festival had come from the municipality and it was therefore felt to be a political exercise. Letters were sent to participating companies asking them to boycott the event; happily they ignored the request. It is surely always better to engage and debate than to withdraw and complain.

The festival provided opportunities for audiences and professionals in Georgia to see work from a dozen countries; it brought 50 directors and producers from as far afield as New Zealand, Korea, Europe and the USA to see the work of Georgian theatre companies; it brought theatre companies together from all over Georgia to work together for the common good; it created new friendships and cemented old ones.

The impact of the festival will be felt over many years. International collaboration does not happen overnight; discussions started over a glass of wine in 2009 will lead to activities in 2010, 2011 and beyond; activities not even imagined in 2009 will take root because a seed, not recognised at the time, was planted in Tbilisi.

This has been a great start for a new festival and the planning begins now for 2010. Gaumarjos!