Bookvica

[SANDRO AKHMETELI’S “ANZOR”] 1931-1932 ts’.ts’ sezoni. p’rograma. anzor [i.e. The 1931-1932 Season. Program. Anzor]

Item #2004

Tbilisi: stamba p/trestisa, [1931]. 20.2x15 cm. 4 pp. Good condition. Fold marks, slightly worn edges rubbed. Scarce. 1 of 2,000 copies.

A rare program of the play “Anzor” directed by the acclaimed Georgian theater director Sandro Akhmeteli (1886-1937) at the Rustaveli Theater during the 1931-1932 season. The program contains details about the cast (Giorgi Davitashvili, Akaki Khorava, Akaki Vasadze, etc.) and other contributors to the production. Notably, it also prominently features Sandro Akhmeteli’s name, though all printed materials mentioning him were systematically eradicated following his execution in 1937.
“Anzor” was first performed at the Rustaveli Theater in a nonnaturalistic production directed by Sandro Akhmeteli in 1928. The performance was based on Sandro Shanshiashvili’s adaptation of Vsevolod Ivanov’s dramatic play “Bronepoyezd 14-69” [i.e. Armoured Train 14-69]. Akhmeteli transformed the play into a Wagnerian spectacle with a constructivist set design by the prominent Georgian avant-garde artist Irakli Gamrekeli (1894-1943). The leftist Soviet critics immediately attacked “Anzor” for trivializing the revolution. However, it
found significant success at the 1930 Moscow Drama Olympiad, marking a pivotal moment in Georgian theater history. The play remained in the theater’s regular repertoire until the mid-1930s, when Akhmeteli was accused of anti-Soviet activity and executed in June 1937.
Sandro Akhmeteli was a pioneer of Georgian avant-garde theater and one of the greatest Georgian theater directors. For 11 years, from 1924 to 1935, he served as a leading director of the Rustaveli Theater, where he inaugurated the establishment of a theater characterized by its bold and accessible forms. Collaborating frequently with Expressionist stage designers such as Gamekeli and Zdanevich, Akhmeteli’s avant-garde approach clashed with the official Soviet art of the mid-1930s. Consequently, he was dismissed, publicly disgraced, and executed a few years later.

Price: $950.00