Mike Maran reflects on Corelli old and new

I wrote an adaptation of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' in 1999 with my friend, Philip Contini. We took our show on the road with Ali Stephens on mandolin (and guitar, trumpet, and tuba!) and Anne Evans on flute and piano. Ruth Barrie painted the floor and backcloth, and Jock Brown built the set and designed and operated the lighting. We toured the show for ten years and did over 600 performances growing into a closely knit family. We were bereft when Ali got cervical cancer and died in October 2009. Her mandolin is now silent but Captain Corelli's Mandolin has risen from the ashes. I went to Tblisi to write this new adaptation with Levan, the director at The Marjanishvili and Nino, the puppet maker. Levan and Nino wrote a document for Ali in Georgian and English dedicating this new production to her which I was able to take to her in the hospice along with a bottle of Georgian wine. My trips to Tblisi to work with Levan and Nino have been life enhancing - and also my new relationships with the actors of The Mercury Theatre in Colchester who have joined the Marjanishvili Theatre in this co-productions. The Mercury have welcomed me into their company and last week I took part in their 'development days,' - three days of workshops led by Peta Liley in which we explored clowning. My inner clown is about to reveal herself...

Roger McCann introduces the project

A new production of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, adapted by Mike Maran from the book by Louis de Bernières, opens at the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre on 5th October before moving to Colchester Mercury Theatre from 27 October - 12 November. This blog will follow the production on its journey.In this first blog, Roger McCann gives the background to its creation. 

I think the story began in 2007 when Nino Namicheishvili, the puppeteer, was in England to see a production she had directed in Georgia and I took her to visit the Edinburgh Festival and we stayed with Mike Maran, a master storyteller whose version of Captain Corelli's Mandolin had been in his repertoire since 1999. The following year Nino and Mike met again at a party at my house and Mike began to think about a new show that he was planning to produce with a guitar accompaniment; would it work better with a third element - puppets?



The Marjanishvili Theatre, Tbilisi

I took Mike to the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre in 2009 so that the two of them could discuss the idea further. They got on immediately, with a common understanding of how to approach the project. But one night it all changed when Mike saw a production of The Lady With A Dog, directed by Levan Tsuladze, at the Marjanishvili Theatre. This captivating version of Chekhov's short story combined live actors with puppets, with many of the puppets being smaller versions of the actors. Mike's mind began working. Could we do a new version of Captain Corelli in a similar style, combining actors with puppets? He met Levan - and the original project that he’d gone to discuss moved to the 'back boiler'.  But as this was the last day of his visit there could be little more than an acknowledgement of a shared interest in pursuing the idea.



Nino Namicheishvili in her workshop with
puppets from The Lady With A Dog



Mike returned to Tbilisi in spring 2010 to start some serious discussions with Levan and Nino. There was a complete meeting of minds. This would be a joint production with the Marjanishvili, written by Mike, directed by Levan with puppets by Nino. The talk was of a full scale production on the main stage with many actors and 'hundreds of puppets'. Leading Georgian composer and principle conductor of the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, Vakhtang Kakhidze, would be commissioned to write an original score. Clearly we were going to need a British theatre to come on board.

I knew of the Colchester Mercury Theatre's interest in developing international work. The theatre had recently become an active member of interACT, an international network of theatres, and had begun work on a development project involving five different countries in a series of workshops to explore different working methods - PLOTS. Would they be interested in joining the project? They were certainly interested in presenting the production but as discussions evolved it seemed a better idea for them to become full producing partners. An application to Arts Council England for support towards what was becoming a very large scale project was submitted and, after a nail-biting wait, approved.



Linda Marlowe with Gertrude in My Hamlet
at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2010


Nino returned in the summer to take part in another UK/Georgia co-production that I had put together for the Edinburgh Fringe with the Palace Theatre Watford and Fingers Theatre from Tbilisi. Besik Kupreishvili directed Linda Marlowe as Hamlet and she provided the voices for all the other parts, played by puppets, in My Hamlet. Three weeks in Edinburgh gave Nino and Mike more time to discus ideas.

Levan and Nino visited Colchester in the autumn to see members of the Mercury company and decide on casting. It was agreed that four British actors, Mike plus three Mercury company members (Tony Casement, Roger Delves-Broughton and Gus Gallagher) would be joined by one Georgian actor, Natuka Kakhidze, who would play Pelagia. Serious plans were beginning to take shape. Tony, Roger and Gus were no doubt confused to be offered roles and then immediately have their photographs taken from all angles so that they could  be reproduced as puppets.

We agreed that the show would rehearse and open in Tbilisi during the 2011 Tbilisi Festival. It would then move to Colchester to coincide with the interACT conference and a mini-festival of short works created during the PLOTS workshops and, with remarkable serendipity, the opening of Colchester's new contemporary art gallery.

Setting dates does focus the mind! Mike returned again to Tbilisi to spend a week with Levan and Nino to finalise the script and Nino began working in earnest on the puppets. The whole company got together in Tbilisi in June so that artists from the two countries could spend some time together and begin to understand each others' working methods. Mike read the script to the whole company - actors, puppeteers, technicians. The British contingent saw a performance of Levan's puppet version of Faust which has been an international sensation on three continents and if they hadn't realised it already, they now knew they were working with remarkable artists.

The end of the beginning. Watch this blog for up to date information, insights and personal views of the artists involved as we move towards October and the Tbilisi opening.

For information about Louis de Bernières and the original book click here
For an interesting web site dedicated to the film with Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz and John Hurt click here