Data Tavadze to stage “Tiger and Lion” in Germany
By Mariam Chanishvili
Tuesday, March 6
Georgian theatre director, actor and playwright at Royal District Theatre Data Tavadze is departing for Germany in March to start working on co-production of Karlsruhe Theatre and Royal District Theatre.
During the interview with The Messenger, Tavadze stated that he will start directing a play – “Tiger and Lion” and will hold the premiere in May.
The playwrights are Data Tavadze and Davit Gabunia. They have been collaborating at the Royal District Theater in Tbilisi since 2008.
Tavadze will be working with 6 German actors of Karlsruhe Theatre and stage a play, which has already been translated to German.
Staatstheater Karlsruhe is one of the biggest multi-section theatres of the world.
In 1937, more than 100 Georgian artists and intellectuals were eliminated and exiled – according to the orders of Stalin, organized by his Georgian leader Beria. A large number of directors, world-famous musicians, authors disappeared and died during the Soviet regime, including Paolo Iashvili, who was forced to commit a suicide in the Writers' House, in Tbilisi. There you can still see the stuffed Tiger and the Lion, who were silent witnesses of this tragedy.
The play will highlight issues of responsibility of witnesses and their choice between silence and action.
In 2018, Tavadze will be directing a one hour lecture-performance – documentary monologue based on an interview with the war veteran from Abkhazia.
The play will be staged in Berlin - Maxim Gorki Theatre, during the festival in October, 2018 dedicated to First World War centenary. The main topic of the festival will be post war period.
Various plays directed by Tavadze have been staged internationally.
Tavadze received the main award of the Fast Forward 2016 European Festival for Young Stage Directors, which was held in November 2016 in Braunschweig in central Germany.
At the Fast Forward 2016 European Festival for Young Stage Directors, the Georgian director received an award for his production “Women of Troy”.
The main prize of the German festival included an opportunity for Tavadze to stage a play at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden Theatre in East Germany.
Starting from December 2018, Tavadze will start directing the play written by the German dramatist Friedrich Schiller – “Intrigue and Love”.
The premiere will be held in February 2019 at Staatsschauspiel Dresden Theatre.
