★★★★☆
This adaption of a classic Georgian novel ups the humour, but leaves an English-speaking audience befuddled.
Davit Kldiashvili’s 1897 novel Samanishvili’s Stepmother is a Georgian classic, taught in almost every school and turned into a notable film by Georgian director Eldar Shengalaia. It has also been repeatedly adapted to the stage.
Giorgi Kashia’s latest production for the Zugdidi Shalva Dadiani State Drama Theatre updates Kldiashvili’s work, placing it within a context more familiar to modern audiences, though it keeps to the story’s broad satirical outline.
The performance opens upon the funeral of Platon Samanishvili’s mother — not long after, Platon learns his father, the wealthy Bekina Samanishvili, intends to remarry. Platon does not take the news well — with four children, he cannot imagine having to split his inheritance if his father has another male child. Therefore, he concocts a plan to approve such a marriage only as long as he is able to choose the bride, his specifications being a twice-widowed older woman with no children so as to ensure no second heir can be born.
In his hunt to find such a woman, Platon finds himself involved in a series of humorous adventures, from negotiating family dramas involving his fabulously drunk brother-in-law to participating in a traditional supra with a stuttering tamada (toastmaster).
Eventually, Platon finds his stepmother to be — the gracious Elene (played by the fantastic Marina Daraselia) — stealing her away from her squabbling stepchildren. It seems as if the family dramas can be settled, with both Bekina and Platon satisfied. But of course, the play is far from over, and soon enough, Elene falls pregnant, bringing more chaos into the household, and drawing the play to its final, tragic conclusion.
The performance was expertly staged, making use of all aspects of the local theatre, including transforming the balcony into a second stage for dream sequences. Many of the props on set were also real, from the wine that is thrown about to lit cigarettes and the bunches of coriander eaten by a greenery-addicted supra participant.
Kashia’s injection of both physical comedy and witty banter creates an uproarious effect — if you can understand it all. Unfortunately, large chunks of the performance were not translated into English, including the entire end scene, making the story hard to follow, let alone the many jokes. Some great lines did make it through, but many more just went untranslated. It was unclear if this was because certain scenes were ad -libbed on the spot, or whether the person in charge of translating the script had been slacking.
Overall, there is much to appreciate in Kashia’s adaptation of this Georgian classic. The acting was superb, as was the staging — for foreign audiences, however, the problematic English subtitles really took away from the performance, leaving one with more questions than answers.
Samanishvili’s Stepmother was recently staged at the Nodar Dumbadze Professional Youth Theatre as part of the 2025 Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre.
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