Standing ovation for Captain Corelli's Mandolin

The magic of theatre! At midnight on Tuesday people were still changing lights, completing the set and doing running repairs on puppets. But at 8 o'clock on Wednesday a packed house at the Marjanishvili Theatre settled down to see the opening performance with high expectations and those expectations had to be met.



The banner outside
the Marjanishvili Theatre



When I say 'packed' I mean packed. Every seat was taken, extra seats were added at the end of each row (would never be allowed in Britain) and then yet more people stood alongside them. Add to that the several television cameras filming bits of the show and a number of press photographers (would never be allowed in Britain) and you begin to get an idea of the sense of excitement.

A Tbilisi opening is a very special kind of evening. The cream of Georgian theatre turns up to see the work of a colleague and Levan Tsuladze, our director, is one of Georgia's leading artists so a new show by him is always eagerly anticipated. The interest of the media is very high making it difficult to walk round the theatre foyer through the ranks of television and radio crews interviewing the audience before the show, during the interval and especially at the end.

Levan has a tradition of watching a first night from the lighting box with colleagues and a bottle of whisky. Each positive response from the audience is rewarded with a drink from the bottle so he judges the success of the show from the the level of whisky remaining in the bottle at the end. Last night he went on to the second bottle!

The audience don't have whisky to show their appreciation; they just get to their feet and applaud. And applaud. And applaud. The standing ovation went on for over ten minutes but even then they were not satisfied. When the curtain finally came down the audience moved backstage to continue congratulations on a one-to-one level. Eventually they left and the company was able to move on to their celebratory party.

And what a party! A Georgian 'supra' is a feast beyond imagination. The restaurant table was groaning with food when we arrived and that was before any of the hot dishes arrived. Food just kept coming and when there was no space on the table they just piled dishes on top of each other. Vakhtang Kakhidze, who composed the incidental music for the show, was appointed 'Tamada' - toastmaster - and he kept the wine flowing with toast after toast.   Compagnia Finzi Pasca, who are performing later in the festival, joined us as guests and did an impromptu acrobatic show on the table, much to the consternation of the restaurant manager.

A great night all round. The show plays again tonight but then the company have a much earned, but unexpected, four day break. Unfortunately our scheduled performance in Yerevan has had to be cancelled because a landslide has taken away a large section of the Tbilisi - Yerevan highway. A great pity, but after four weeks of non-stop work the rest will be welcome.