One morning, I opened a newspaper and in the What’s on section, accidentally read the following: "Kote Marjanishvili State Academic Theatre – “The Role Model”: Play by Basa Janikashvili, produced by – Dato Sakvarelidze. Beginning at 20.00 hours, and so forth… "He has made his dream come true", was the first thought that came to my mind…

So today it is still possible that your cherished dream comes true…

"Like everyone else, Basa has his dreams as well. He doesn’t dream of something unattainable, he dreams of having his plays mounted, it doesn’t matter where, in which theatre, it could even be at a bus stop. Just let them be staged"… ("Studia" magazine, #6, 1999).

These were the words that Basa Janikashvili told me three years ago when I recorded his interview. It was a hot midsummer day when Basa shared his dream with me and it was a chilly evening in the fall when his dream was realized…

Producer, Dato Sakvarelidze (alias, Suko) and Magti GSM helped Basa to translate his dream into a reality…

I am speaking with Suko at the Royal District theatre. The rehearsal of a new play is going on.

It is unimaginably freezing. While watching the actors, I am surprised they manage to move at all. Suko is sitting in the first row, making some comments about when the music needs to be introduced and then he starts singing himself… He looks quite energetic, despite the fact that it is terribly cold.
"We’ll continue in half an hour, please don’t leave the room…"

Thank God, now my turn has come…

We sit down for a chat and he apologizes for making me frozen to the bone.
 
How the play was staged

Dato Sakvarelidze: "The Role Model" was created by synthesizing Basa’s two plays. I read these plays two years ago and decided to put them on stage. I believe the play is based on extremely relevant problems and features, many different sides of the contemporary society. I hope the public won’t be very critical of it. Basa and I had no pretension of producing something extraordinary, unique, or something that would be a masterpiece. It is just a sketch to enjoy the audience."
"The Role Model" was put on stage in just 40 days, which was made possible by Magti GSM support.

Mr. Gia Jokhtaberidze personally expressed his wish to assist the theatre and Georgian dramatic art.  And we are very grateful for his support.
What has been accomplished…

Dato Sakvarelidze continues: "I think I’ve managed to have 80% of the plan accomplished. The show has a small budget. We haven’t purchased the sophisticated equipment or designed expensive scenery for the play. It has been a pilot effort that allowed us to see whether it was possible for the theatre to cooperate with private entities."
 
"The Role Model" and the audience…

 Dato Sakvarelidze: "We must admit that from the start this play was  meant for a mass audience. Such a statement may not sound commendable, but we’ve always maintained that the performance was not meant to be "intellectual". We should take into account, however, that the characters of the play required high professionalism from the actors. This is because when an actor performs the role of his contemporary, he needs to be more persuasive and must be very close to the reality of everyday life. I have created the characters that can be found all around us: they could be your neighbors, your friends, or policemen that you come across every day in the street…"

Zurab Berikashvili, Eka Chkheidze, Avto Mikadze, Zaal Chikobava and others perform the main parts in the play.

Theatre, classics,  contemporary dramatic art, and Suko

Dato Sakvarelidze: "I pay tremendous attention to modern Georgian dramatic art. The Georgian theatre of today will be considered alive when modern playwrights
exist in it. For some reason, staging the classics is regarded to be indicative of more sophistication. Personally, I think all this should be balanced. It won’t do us any harm if we invite modern, young playwrights to the theatre. They need to work in order to hone their skills and gain experience. We need one more thing as well - we, the producers, lack our own unique theatre language. We need to find it by all means. At the moment, all of us (theatre producers, playwrights ) are looking for such a language.

"Contemporary dramatic art requires serious attention on the part of producers, actors and artistic managers. That’s why I believe that Magti GSM has done a very useful thing by funding "The Role Model". The result was that the money received from the performances enabled us to finance the mounting of another play "The House on the Border".

"The Role Model" was born in October, 2001. And Suko himself was born on the 21 March, 1970. He  graduated from the Drama Production Faculty of the Theatrical Institute under Mikheil Tumanishvili’s guidance, and since then he has not lived a single day without the theatre. His first performances immediately attracted the attention of the Georgian public. He has also gained experience abroad. He staged James Binkovski’s "Pear Juice" on Broadway, worked with Peter Brooke at the British National Theatre studio and interned at the British National Opera. Recently, he was invited to work in Italy, at Milan’s Small Theatre. In addition, the music to nearly thirty plays and movies also belongs to him.

Dato Sakvarelidze: "It is true that I have tried my hand at composing music. I was even quite well-known as a theatre composer at one time. I’ve staged two operas, Maskana’s "The Dignity of a Village", conductored by Jansugh Kakhidze, and "Evridike", directed by Nika Memanashvili. I will probably connect my future with the art of opera…"

Before that happens, Dato Sakvarelidze works at the theatre and thinks that, "The theatre is a way, a stage of comprehending what real life and truth mean. For me, theatre is a way of perceiving the universe. In the theatre, I see all the vehicles that give me an opportunity to comprehend the psychology of human beings".
When I went out into the street, it was warm … Suko was calling the actors who were standing outside the building, warming themselves up, to get back to work.
"Hurry up, we are going to continue…"
 
        Nino Tarkhnishvili