Go-done

So, I was at a bit of a loose end after 6 this evening....and my legs carried me to the theatre, to see if I could get into the show. Even half an hour before the start people were milling outside the theatre, but what were those tickets they had in their hands? It seems they all had invitations - so that's why there were no tickets for sale! Seems a bit pointless, advertising the show then. A lovely old lady, looking for an invitation for herself, also organised me one - to slightly bewildered looks (what, she does not speak Georgian, what is she doing going to our theatre? It seems the ladies at the entrance know me already....).

I think it was an event to celebrate teachers. At the beginning many people were on the stage, giving speeches, and a number of people were called up onto the stage and given envelopes and flowers, including some very rural looking ladies. All winners were women, one elderly lady (life-time award, that sort of thing?) and the rest were quite young.

And then they were treated to 'Waiting for Godot'. Perhaps not the kind of thing you would normally expect for such a celebration. It was also performed without a break - that's after half an hour of speeches. No wonder the audience was a bit restless. Looking at the script, I wonder though if the piece was not cut a little....or quite a bit?

It was another, typical Stuara tour de force - I've decided he's a song-and-dance man, and I like that! Opening with an excerpt of Kancheli's 'Styx' (bits of which he seems to use in all his plays, especially the wordless play 'Styx') the characters acted, sang, danced their way through the piece. It's amazing how variable my favourite Zaza Papuashvili is; here he (Estragon) and his mate David Berikashvili (Vladimir) were just like two tramps, having a great deal of time and not enough activities to fill it with, fussing with, and exaggerating, every little thing and playing it out interminably. Estragon scuffed around forever with one boot on and the other half off, driving me just a little crazy every time he walked. Pozzo came with his own signature tune, a hollywooded version of 'Oh Tannenbaum', and Lucky attached to him at a very long rope with various pairs of bloomers drying on it. (Does Lucky always have hair to the ground? and maybe he does not always sing a Chinese song....). For this play, it was probably a fairly normal production, and as always, it was fun!