In this post we meet the Iannis family - Dr Iannis and his daughter Pelagia. Our play opens with Dr Iannis talking at the grave of his wife; bringing her up to date on the island's news and events around Europe that would soon have a major impact on life on Cephalonia.
Dr Iannis is played by Mike Maran, who has also written the stage adaptation of Louis de Bernieres' best selling book. Mike has had a long relationship with Captain Corelli having first created a stage version in 1999 for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. That version, which stayed in his repertoire for ten years, had just three people: Mike himself told the story accompanied by Alison Stephens on Mandolin and Anne Evans on piano.
Mike began his career as a folk singer before moving into rock scene and opening shows for groups like Uriah Heap, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Captain Beefheart, ELO and Roy Wood’s Wizzard. In 1977 he opened a show at the Edinburgh Fringe about the life and work of Robert Louis Stevenson and Penny Whistles of Robert Louis Stevenson was bought by BBC2 and shown on Bank Holiday Easter Monday the next year. There followed a stream of plays with music – a new one every year.
In this interview Mike was sitting on the roof terrace outside his hotel room, with panoramic views over the city of Tbilisi.
Pelagia begins the play as a 16 year old, the island beauty who is sought after by every young man. Dr Iannis has educated her to read and write both Greek and Italian, a skill that he fears will make her an unacceptable wife in the largely illiterate village. When she falls for a local fisherman, Mandras, their time together is cut short by the outbreak of war as Mandras is called up and his inability to read her love letters has disatrous consequences.
Natalie Kakhidze was born into a musical family (her father wrote the music for our production and is Chief Conductor of the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra) but she broke the mould and went into the theatre rather than the concert hall. Her career since then suggests she made a good choice. Invited to join the Marjanishvili Theatre company after graduating from the Rustaveli Theatre University. Her first part was in Levan Tsuladze's award winning production of The Lady With A Dog which, like Captain Corelli, combined live actors with puppets so she has experience of seeing herself portrayed by a puppet. Natalie won the Best Actress Award in 2010 for her part in Medea Redux by Neil Labute.
At the Marjanishvili Theatre Natalie was in a dressing room named after one of the theatre's biggest stars, Veriko Anjaparidze, who joined the company with Marjanishvili in 1933 and stayed there until her death in 1987. Anjaparidze created the part of Yudif in Marjanishvili's 1929 production of Uriel Acosta, a show that is still in the company's repertoire and in which Natalie currently appears.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin opened at the Marjanishvili Theatre on 5 October 2011. It opens at the Mercury Theatre Colchester on Thursday 27 October and plays there until 12 November. Click here to book tickets
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