Konstantine "Kote" Marjanishvili (Georgian:
კრნსტრნტინáƒ" (კრტáƒ") მრáƒ
ჯრნიშვილი), also known by the Russified name
Konstantin Aleksandrovich Mardzhanov (Russian: ÐšÐ¾Ð½Ñ Ñ‚Ð°Ð½Ñ‚Ð¸Ì Ð½
Ð Ð»ÐµÐºÑ Ð°Ì Ð½Ð´Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Марджанов) (May 28, 1872 â€"
April 17, 1933), was a Georgian theater director regarded as an
important contributor to the pre- and post-revolutionary evolution of
Georgian, Russian and Soviet stages.[1] One of the most prestigious
and professional of Georgia’s directors, he was particularly famous
for his lavish and massive theater shows.[2]He was born to a
well-to-do literary family of an army officer in Kvareli, eastern
Georgia, then part of the Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire. After
acting and directing in his native country from 1893 to 1909, he went
to Russia proper, Russifying his surname as Mardzhanov.He worked for
Russian provincial theaters as an actor, then as a director, until he
established himself in the Moscow Nezlobin troupe in 1906 and later
co-founded the Georgian Drama Studio with Alexander Yuzhin. He quickly
gained a reputation as one of the most talented followers of the
well-known Russian actor and theater director Konstantin Stanislavsky
(1863-1938). As a director, Marjanishvili’s main technique was to
guide the actor in finding an instinctive path to realizing "outer
truth".[1] In 1910, his versatility was recognized by Stanislavsky
himself who invited him at the same time as Edward Gordon Craig to
open up the repertoire and production techniques of the Moscow Art
Theatre. There he staged works by Knut Hamsun and Henrik Ibsen and
assistant-directed the Nemirovich-Danchenko Brothers Karamazov (1910)
and the Craig Hamlet (1911).[3] Fascinated by Craig’s stylized
manner of using puppets, Marjanishvili temporarily returned to Georgia
to stage Oedipus Rex in a similar spirit. In 1913, he broke with
Stanislavsky due to his left-wing sympathies and his interest in
decadence, and organized the eclectic "Free Theater", where he staged
opera, operetta, drama and pantomime. The enterprise, notable for its
ties with the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and the singer Feodor
Chaliapin, and for its Georgian-type choreography, was rendered
abortive in a year due largely to financial problems.[1] He then moved
to Rostov-on-Don, where he directed the local theater from 1914 to
1915.[2]Marjanishvili’s 1917 production of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé
was a true triumph and continued to be staged during the tumultuous
years of revolution and civil war in Kiev (Kiyv, Ukraine), Moscow,
Petrograd (St. Petersburg, Russia), and Tiflis (Tbilisi, Georgia).
Marjanishvili’s simultaneous experiments with festive staging in
Rostov-on-Don (1914-15) and Petrograd (1916-17) led him to coordinate
the mass spectacle Toward a Worldwide Commune (co-directed by Nikolai
Petrov, Sergei Radlov, Vladimir Solovyov and Adrian Piotrovsky, 1920).
For years, he also worked in films (1916-28).[3]
კრნსტრნტინáƒ" (კრტáƒ") მრáƒ
ჯრნიშვილი), also known by the Russified name
Konstantin Aleksandrovich Mardzhanov (Russian: ÐšÐ¾Ð½Ñ Ñ‚Ð°Ð½Ñ‚Ð¸Ì Ð½
Ð Ð»ÐµÐºÑ Ð°Ì Ð½Ð´Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Марджанов) (May 28, 1872 â€"
April 17, 1933), was a Georgian theater director regarded as an
important contributor to the pre- and post-revolutionary evolution of
Georgian, Russian and Soviet stages.[1] One of the most prestigious
and professional of Georgia’s directors, he was particularly famous
for his lavish and massive theater shows.[2]He was born to a
well-to-do literary family of an army officer in Kvareli, eastern
Georgia, then part of the Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire. After
acting and directing in his native country from 1893 to 1909, he went
to Russia proper, Russifying his surname as Mardzhanov.He worked for
Russian provincial theaters as an actor, then as a director, until he
established himself in the Moscow Nezlobin troupe in 1906 and later
co-founded the Georgian Drama Studio with Alexander Yuzhin. He quickly
gained a reputation as one of the most talented followers of the
well-known Russian actor and theater director Konstantin Stanislavsky
(1863-1938). As a director, Marjanishvili’s main technique was to
guide the actor in finding an instinctive path to realizing "outer
truth".[1] In 1910, his versatility was recognized by Stanislavsky
himself who invited him at the same time as Edward Gordon Craig to
open up the repertoire and production techniques of the Moscow Art
Theatre. There he staged works by Knut Hamsun and Henrik Ibsen and
assistant-directed the Nemirovich-Danchenko Brothers Karamazov (1910)
and the Craig Hamlet (1911).[3] Fascinated by Craig’s stylized
manner of using puppets, Marjanishvili temporarily returned to Georgia
to stage Oedipus Rex in a similar spirit. In 1913, he broke with
Stanislavsky due to his left-wing sympathies and his interest in
decadence, and organized the eclectic "Free Theater", where he staged
opera, operetta, drama and pantomime. The enterprise, notable for its
ties with the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and the singer Feodor
Chaliapin, and for its Georgian-type choreography, was rendered
abortive in a year due largely to financial problems.[1] He then moved
to Rostov-on-Don, where he directed the local theater from 1914 to
1915.[2]Marjanishvili’s 1917 production of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé
was a true triumph and continued to be staged during the tumultuous
years of revolution and civil war in Kiev (Kiyv, Ukraine), Moscow,
Petrograd (St. Petersburg, Russia), and Tiflis (Tbilisi, Georgia).
Marjanishvili’s simultaneous experiments with festive staging in
Rostov-on-Don (1914-15) and Petrograd (1916-17) led him to coordinate
the mass spectacle Toward a Worldwide Commune (co-directed by Nikolai
Petrov, Sergei Radlov, Vladimir Solovyov and Adrian Piotrovsky, 1920).
For years, he also worked in films (1916-28).[3]
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