WOMEN OF TROY

DIRECTED BY Data Tavadze
TEXT DEVISED BY Davit Gabunia and Data Tavadze. The text is based on interviews with women war survivors and Euripides.
MUSIC BY Nika Pasuri
CAST Kato Kalatozishvili, Keta Shatirishvili, Natuka Kakhidze, Magda Lebanidze, Salome Maisashvili

Already cult and legendary, infinitely beautiful and decorated with numerous awards, this production - through which contemporary Georgian theatre has conquered European stages - will be presented in the Czech Republic for the very first time!

A visually striking, universally accessible and superbly performed narrative that addresses a  difficult subject, while still leaving space for playfulness, joy in life and hope. Fragile in its strength and strong in its fragility, the production is about women and wars.

"The performance is stunningly beautiful. But its aesthetic quality creates no barriers between the women and the audience. The play is timeless and agonisingly relevant. But there is scope here too for pleasure and high spirits, and once again I am reminded what fantastic actors Georgia has," wrote critic Margareta Sörenson after its presentation at the Stockholm Theatre Biennale.

The production Women of Troy takes Euripides’ ancient tragedy, but treats it solely as a starting framework for real-life stories of Georgian women - victims of wars and civil conflicts from the 1990s to the present day. Director Data Tavadze focuses on experiences that have long been overlooked and silenced in the official historiography of post-Soviet Georgia, giving voice to those whose suffering remained ignored.

The performance is created for five actresses who do not portray specific survivors, but instead collectively experience war through words, memory and shared physical presence. Intimacy is a key principle of the production—there is no clear boundary between stage and audience. Minimalist scenography and a small number of props concentrate attention exclusively on the performers’ voices and bodies. Musical structuring and precise work with language and sound form a rhythmical female chorus oscillating between personal testimony and a universal image of wartime violence. The creators emphasize that the true heroines of war are not men, but women - daughters, wives, mothers and grandmothers - who survive and carry trauma forward. Despite its pain, the production is permeated with hope and highlights survival itself as an act of resistance.

Women of Troy, produced by the Royal District Theatre in Tbilisi, has been presented at major European festivals and has received numerous international awards. Today it is considered a landmark work of contemporary Georgian political theatre.

Performance in Georgian with Czech and English subtitles.

TRAILER

More information available on the Month of Ukraine (Měsíc Ukrajiny) festival websitel