International Comedy Theatre Festival Begins
The 6th International Comedy Theatre Festival opened in Gori with a festive procession, and the Marjanishvili Theatre's play "The King Dies" was presented at the Giorgi Eristavi Drama Theatre. Mikheil Giorgadze, First Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, attended the opening of the festival.
The theatre festival was founded in 2014 in the city of Gori by Soso Nemsadze, the then artistic director of the Giorgi Eristavi State Theatre, together with the Georgian Regional Art Development Foundation, and its slogan is "Let's return the smile to the war-torn city."
In accordance with its title, the festival's repertoire involves staging comedy genre performances. Almost all troupes from Georgia have participated in the festival. For several years now, the Comedy Festival has been granted international status, and troupes from various countries have also been able to visit Gori. In 2018, the Georgian Comedy Festival became a member of the Festival Association.
Within the framework of the festival, audiences are annually given the opportunity to get acquainted with the repertoire of various theatres on-site, as well as to participate in the festive procession. One of the important parts of the festival is "Black Box", which allows theatre critics to see the festival performances and evaluate them in written form. This year's festival, like last year, will be evaluated by a jury consisting of five theatre critics. The jury members will prepare critical articles on the performances, which will be made available to all interested parties. The articles will be published in electronic format as a single booklet.
The Comedy Festival will last from June 5 to June 14 and will feature troupes from the Marjanishvili, Tumanishvili, Gori, Kutaisi, Rustavi, Romania, Movement Theatre, Iliauni, and Dmanisi theatres.
The festival is held with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia and under the patronage of the Municipality of Gori.
