Konstantine "Kote" Marjanishvili ( ka, კონსტანტინე (კოტე) მარჯანიშვილი), also known by the

Russified Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy. Russification was at times ...

name Konstantin Aleksandrovich Mardzhanov () (May 28, 1872 – April 17, 1933), was a Georgian

theater director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

regarded as an important contributor to the pre- and post-revolutionary evolution of Georgian,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

stages.Rayfield, Donald] (2000), '' The Literature of Georgia: A History'', pp. 213-4.

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, . One of the most prestigious and professional of Georgia’s directors, he was particularly famous for his lavish and massive theater shows.Mikaberidze, Alexander (ed., 2007
Marjanishvili, Konstantine
''Historical Dictionary of Georgia''. Retrieved on November 1, 2017.

Early career

He was born to a well-to-do literary family of an army officer in

Kvareli Kvareli (, ) is a town in northeastern in Kakheti Province, Georgia. Located in the Alazani Valley, near the foothills of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, it was the birthplace of Georgian author Ilia Chavchavadze, whose one-storied house is pres ...

, eastern Georgia, then part of the

Tiflis Governorate Tiflis Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire with its administrative centre in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi). In 1897, it constituted in area and had a population of 1,051,032 inhabitants. ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. 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 Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Nezlobin troupe in 1906 and later co-founded the Georgian Drama Studio with

Alexander Yuzhin Alexander Ivanovich Yuzhin (; 1857–1927) was a stage name of the Georgian Prince Sumbatov (Sumbatashvili), who dominated the Malyi Theatre of Moscow at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was best known for the Romantical parts in the ...

. He quickly gained a reputation as one of the most talented followers of the well-known Russian actor and theater director

Konstantin Stanislavsky Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( rus, Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj, links=yes; ; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian and Sovie ...

(1863-1938). As a director, Marjanishvili’s main technique was to guide the actor in finding an instinctive path to realizing "outer truth". In 1910, his versatility was recognized by Stanislavsky himself who invited him at the same time as

Edward Gordon Craig Edward Henry Gordon CraigSome sources give "Henry Edward Gordon Craig". (born Edward Godwin; 16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966), sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director an ...

to open up the repertoire and production techniques of the

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...

. There he staged works by

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to conscio ...

and

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

and assistant-directed the Nemirovich-Danchenko '' Brothers Karamazov'' (1910) and the Craig ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' (1911).Stanton, Sarah and Banham, Martin (1996), ''The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre'', p. 230.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, . Fascinated by Craig’s stylized manner of using puppets, Marjanishvili temporarily returned to Georgia to stage

Oedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...

in a similar spirit. In 1913, he broke with Stanislavsky due to his left-wing sympathies and his interest in

decadence Decadence was a late-19th-century movement emphasizing the need for sensationalism, egocentricity, and bizarre, artificial, perverse, and exotic sensations and experiences. By extension, it may refer to a decline in art, literature, science, ...

, 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 Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

and the singer

Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; 12 April 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass voic ...

, and for its Georgian-type choreography, was rendered abortive in a year due largely to financial problems. He then moved to

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

, where he directed the local theater from 1914 to 1915.

Post-revolution years

Marjanishvili’s 1917 production of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

’s '' Salomé'' was a true triumph and continued to be staged during the tumultuous years of

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

and

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

(Kiyv,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), Moscow,

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

(St. Petersburg, Russia), and Tiflis (

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, 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 Adrian Ivanovich Piotrovsky () ( – 21 November 1937) was a Russian Soviet dramaturge, responsible for creating the synopsis for Sergei Prokofiev's ballet ''Romeo and Juliet''. He was the "acknowledged godfather" of the Workers' Youth Theatre (T ...

, 1920). For years, he also worked in films (1916-28). Returning to the recently Sovietized Georgia in 1922, he led the Rustaveli Theater in Tbilisi. By that time, the energetic young director

Sandro Akhmeteli Alexandre Vasilis dze Akhmeteli ( ka, სანდრო ახმეტელი) (April 13, 1886 – June 27, 1937), known professionally as Sandro Akhmeteli, was a Georgia (country), Georgian theater director whose innovative conceptions and sk ...

had also returned to Tbilisi to lead the younger actors in a coup against the establishment. The two men collaborated with respect and unease, but Akhemeteli’s nearly despotic rule over his artistic corporation "Duruji" proved too violent for Marjanishvili whose production had become more restrained, motivated by his own conviction that "there’s enough suffering in life without showing it on the stage." In 1926, he and part of the company left to form a provincial touring theatre, centered on

Kutaisi Kutaisi ( ; ka, ქუთაისი ) is a city in the Imereti region of the Georgia (country), Republic of Georgia. One of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is the List o ...

and

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...

, leaving Akhmeteli in sole control of the Rustaveli Theater. The new theater came to be known as The Second State Georgian Theater and would eventually be named the

Marjanishvili Theater Kote Marjanishvili State Academic Drama Theatre ( ka, კოტე მარჯანიშვილის სახელობის სახელმწიფო აკადემიური დრამატული თეატრი) i ...

after its founder (1933). The theater is still functional in Tbilisi and continues Marjanishvili’s eclectic and somewhat conformist traditions. In his later years, Marjanishvili worked at the Korsh Theater (Театр Корша) (1931-1932), the Maly Theater (Малый театр) and the Operetta Theater in Moscow (1933). Marjanishvili’s new repertoire was largely Russian and conformed to

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

doctrine, which won him awards at the Moscow Drama Olympiad of 1930. Yet, menacing charges against Marjanishvili soon began to appear in the Soviet press. He died of illness in Moscow on 17 April 1933 before the worsening political climate led to

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

which would take the life of Marjanishvili’s erstwhile collaborator and rival Sandro Akhemeteli in 1937.

Filmography

* ''

Before the Hurricane ''Before the Hurricane'' ( translit. ''Qarishkhlis tsin'', ''Burevestnik'' in Russian) is a 1924 Soviet-era Georgian black-and-white silent film directed by Kote Marjanishvili based on a script by Shalva Dadiani. Plot The film is set in 1905 i ...

'', 1924 * ''

Krazana ''Krazana'' ( ka, კრაზანა) is a 1928 Soviet-Georgian SSR, Georgian black-and-white silent film directed by Kote Marjanishvili. It is based on the 1897 novel ''The Gadfly'' by Ethel Lilian Voynich. "Krazana" means wasp in Georgian ...

, 1926 * '' Amok'', 1927

Notes

External links

* in

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References

* Шабалина, Татьяна (Shabalina, Tatiyana). "Марджанов, Константин Александрович." Энциклопедия Кругосвет (''Entsiklopediya Krugosvet''). Retrieved on May 7, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marjanishvili, Kote 1872 births 1933 deaths Burials at Mtatsminda Pantheon Theatre directors from Georgia (country) Soviet theatre directors Theatre directors from the Russian Empire