The FINANCIAL — The pantomime Sleeping Beauty, with script by Richard Lovelock, directed by Juliette Zaiser, and presented by Tbilisi International Players Foundation and TBSC Consulting will be presented on 2, 3 and 4 December at Marjanishvili Theatre.
TIPF was the producer of the pantomimes Cinderella in 2009 and Knight Fever in 2010.
Tickets for the third annual Panto in Tbilisi are on sale now. Show dates at the Marjanishvili Theater are Friday, 02 December 7:00 p.m, Saturday, 03 December 7:00 p.m and Sunday, 04 December 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices are 25 GEL for theatre main floor seating and 20 GEL for theatre balcony. Tickets are available at the offices of TBSC Consulting, between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Tickets will also be available at every rehearsal at the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel.
“The first idea of creating a Panto in Tbilisi came up in 2008,” said George Welton, Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce. “Some representatives of the British embassy in Georgia who had backgrounds in an amateur theatre before decide to open a pantomime theatre. Panto is a very particular form of children’s musical theatre. Pantomime is a great British tradition. Its season is usually the run up to Christmas to help get everyone in the festive mood. It is a stage show with lots of bright costumes, dancing, music and song. There are also lots of corny jokes and we actively encourage audience participation. One of the strangest features of the show is that the Ugly Sisters are traditionally played by men, as is the Stepmother, while the Prince is always a girl,” said George Welton, Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce.
“The organizer of the Panto theatre is Tbilisi International Players Foundation. The first aim of the foundation is to create an English language theatre in Tbilisi. Another point is managing some charity events, mostly for the children and therefore creating an outlet for people who are amateur thespians. But often these actors and actresses are more than amateurs and they act like professionals on the stage. Everyone involved in the Panto are volunteers and no one is paid,” said Paul Clark, President of TBSC Consulting.
“Rehearsals of Sleeping Beauty have been held at the Radisson hotel for 3 month. Actors have been training pretty hard. Audience members can plan to come to the play 30 minutes earlier than each show and enjoy a glass of champagne or soft drink. Parents can enjoy drinking sparkling wine, while their children will have the opportunity to drink sparkling juices as well. The profit made by the play will be divided in to several parts, one will cover the cost of the production, the other will go to charity and some will be used for the future works of Tbilisi International Players Foundation,” Mr. Clark said.
The Director of Sleeping Beauty is Juliette L. Zaiser. She has a BA in Theatre Arts from UCLA; an M.Ed. from the University of Guam; and has acted in, crewed for and directed 50+ shows. Sleeping Beauty is Juliette’s 3rd annual British pantomime. She was assistant director for Cinderella, and acting coach for Knight Fever. She believes strongly in community volunteerism.
“Actually we have always paid for using the scripts in our plays before. This time British playwright Richard Lovelock gave us the play’s script completely for free. He has written three children’s pantomimes. Richard says that ours will be the first time in a country where English is not the first language. He says, “I have always had a love of pantomime, and it amazes me that such an English tradition can be enjoyed all over the world, a man playing the Dame, the principal boy often being a girl – it is total nonsense, yet loved unquestioningly by children of all ages,” Zaiser said.
“Children will really enjoy Sleeping Beauty as it is full of joy and mixed humour. We always try to use local humour as Panto is usually localized. So we are trying to maintain a bit of Georgian humour, make fun of foreigners speaking Georgian. Everyone who visits the Panto will have a nice time and enjoy the play itself,” Zaiser said.
According to Paul Clark this is the third time that British Panto has been performed in Georgia, but Tbilisi International Players Foundation plans to create and offer different performances to its Georgian viewers in the future.
“We had a pretty interesting experience last year while performing Knight Fever. We had a group of children who came from orphanages. The big question was whether they would be able to understand what we acted on the stage but they appeared to be really enthusiastic. They understood the whole idea of the audience response. That was the best example of the theatre’s success. If you are doing everything right viewers can catch on to the idea even if they don’t understand the language. Although the production is in English, there is a lot of visual and physical humour that transcends language barriers,” said Luis Navarro, Country Director of the National Democratic Institute, who plays one of the Bouncers in the Panto Sleeping Beauty.
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