Georgia Series: The Rendezvous

London Theatre Blog is pleased to present a series of seven reviews, written by director/dramaturg Jens Peters, of productions at the Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre (Tiblisi, Georgia) as part of its recent International Project. The first review is of a new play entitled The Rendezvous by acclaimed Georgian writer Tamara Bartaia. It took place at the Drayton Studio in London on the 18th November 2008.

Tamara Bartaia’s new play is based on true events that took place during the Georgian civil war of 1991-1993. The action is set in a graveyard in Tbilisi in 1998. Led by a beggar-cum-narrator (James Bye), the audience encounters the ghosts of the young victims of the recent conflict. Timo (Alex Price), Kakha (Michael Norledge), Nik (Daniel McCloud), Lexo (Joseph Thompson) and Besso (Ben Upson) were a young band of idealistic revolutionaries who saw themselves as the re-embodiment of the ‘Horsemen’ from a mythical chivalric past. However, their death has left them disillusioned, and now they are intent on solving one final question: why? Why did they have do die? Who betrayed them? Could it have been their senior charismatic leader Juansher (Tim Wyatt), as the rumour would have them believe?

In the course of the evening, The Rendezvous reveals a world devoid of idealism, in which only mutual distrust is left. While the ghosts of the revolutionaries are busy elucidating the past, the present is represented by the visiting friends and widows: Ana and Eka (both played by Laura Main), and Natia Rebecca and Salome (played by Jo Hanbury). These are the representatives left in the real world, the world outside the graveyard, who have to deal with the repercussions of the civil war, where ‘yesterday’s heroism’ is easily mistaken for ‘today’s crimes’.

The stage design realizes this essential divide succinctly: the graveyard is represented by a single slab cordoned off by ropes that could also be a speaker’s podium. The ghosts of the dead are nearly exclusively inside these confines, while the living come from outside to commemorate them. This symbolic separation of space serves the play’s complexity well as it operates on several levels. It embodies a deeper division of the country, running along the lines of political factions, but also rooted in the clash of a dense history with the geopolitical demands of the modern world. The recent war with Russia brought Georgia’s self-image to the fore once more; and one possible image is that of a beleaguered island, very much like the solitary graveyard on stage.

The play certainly profits most from these complex implications for today’s political situation in the Caucasus. On the other hand, the intimate demands of both space and writing are not served by the acting. Director Hilary Wood fails to curb a general tendency to express emotional intensity through a plethora of facial and gestural mannerisms. Particularly the Beggar (James Bye) tries too hard to ingratiate himself with the audience during his direct addresses. The female characters, but above all Timo (Alex Price) are a delightful exception to the rule. Price succeeds to communicate a Hamlet-like scepticism and disgust at exsistence in his contained, introverted performance, which is subtle enough to work in the small Drayton Studio. Sometimes a slightly quivering lip says more than a whole bag of actors’ tricks.

It is worth noting that two Gerogian productions La Ronde and Hilda (a review of which will feature in this series) will be on at the Arcola Theatre in late December and early January.