Always, when you are loaded with problems and think there is no escape from such a drab existence, you want to think about something else, dream of something loftier that would help distance you from the routine, or think about someone who incites positive  emotions.
For instance, to think about Medea Djaparidze…

Now, when years already separate us from her, when you can see her amazing smile only in films and photos, the strange feeling of something not fully realised, explained and appreciated comes with even more pain.

Her life was not at all easy and simple… Life in those days was not much different than it is today.  Even if so, even if it had been ideal, it was far from what people of her rank deserved to have…

However, Medea had a remarkable talent to turn a blind eye to it. This ability always put her above everything, left her in a different register, different dimension that we would never be able to reach.

I thought about this whenever I saw her in the street. She walked as if her feet were not touching the ground … as if she was not tied by an infinite chain of daily problems… as if she was not the most charming woman in the world carrying a heavy burden of boundless love and recognition…
"You are walking so slowly", she whispered to me once in the street, "If you want to be in good shape, you should always walk briskly, simply run"…

She said this and flew… At that time she was playing a part of the girl of my age in "Anna Frank’s Diary"…

"Today, when so many things are being destroyed and ruined in the world, when so much danger is threatening the beauty of mankind, when the daily routine and earthly things are in great surplus, it is a blessing to see such a person as Medea Djaparidze.  Her artistic talent, spiritual and physical beauty are elevating. You feel as if you are flying with her whenever you look at her".

Tonino Guera

Medea Djaparidze was a very popular actress and an engaging person. No words can fully convey the admiration and love every Georgian feels toward her.

Medea Djaparidze was much more than words can express… She became a symbol of beauty, tenderness and perfection during her lifetime. We were not able to fully realize this at that time, could not appreciate it – we simply felt it.

Now, we miss her… we miss not only our symbol and pride, but her warmth and tenderness, beauty and the sentimentality that rarely exists in our lives today. We miss her singing and her melodic talk, her distinct and romantic style of dressing. We miss her character, not accepting anything trite and banal, her inaccessibility and charming naivety with which her unbending character, immense working capability, amazing firmness and devotion seemed to be paradoxically combined.

"Working on the "Old Waltz" showed one additional, very significant feature of Medea Djaparidze, her amazing "unearthly nature" (by  “earthliness” I mean the monotonous, boring and heart-thinning daily life that gradually, day after day wears out and breaks the most precious thing one owns – one’s spirit).

Medea Djaparidze managed to protect her inner world, preserve it with beauty and clarity. She had a unique ability to see and celebrate good, beautiful and noble in everything. This was seen by some as sentimentality. What  surprises and disappoints most is that they regard sentimentality as something derogatory."

Medea Kuchukhidze

The very first role of Medea Djaparidze was Shurochka, performed by her in a play staged by Veriko Andjaparidze.

With the exception of four seasons when she worked in the Rustaveli Theatre, and one more part in the Gori Theatre where she played Anna Frank, Medea Djaparidze’s entire life was connected to the Mardjanishvili Theatre.

Juliet in Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet", Chrichina in Marika Baratashvili’s "Marine", Eliza in Bernard Shaw’s "Pygmalion", Gulsunda in Vazha Pshavela’s "Mokvetili", Cleopatra in Bernard Shaw’s "Caesar and Cleopatra", Gulkana in Polikarpe Kakabadze’s "Kakhaberi’s Khmali", Jocasta in Sophocles’s  "King Oedipus", Nino and Mariam in Lasha Tabukashvili’s plays "The Old Waltz" and "Coming to You" and many others..
And fantastic evenings of recitals and memories…

And films… "Keto and Kote", "The Sun of Autumn"…

"It is impossible to recite the poetry of Galaktion, Titsian, Boris Pasternak and Marina Tsvetaeva without the feeling of painful beauty. It is impossible to play, embody and personify Juliet, Cleopatra and others without the same feeling. The rich and multifaceted artistic world of Medea Djaparidze is permeated with this painful beauty…"

Akaki Bakradze

We will not dwell here on Medea Djaparidze’s childhood and family, the family that shared the heaviest fate of the people of its epoch. Those years made Medea more generous and loving, more sensitive and affectionate.

…It was the end of the forties. Medea was in Moscow on a business trip. It was at this time that she decided to realize her dream and applied to the Nemirovitch and Danchenko Studio affiliated with the Moscow Arts Theatre, to attend training courses. At that time, external students were not admitted to "MKHAT" (commonly used Russian acronym for Moscow Arts Theatre) studio, in this case, however, the director made an exception: "How would you behave if an angel appeared to you?" he recalled.

It was at that time that her knight appeared in Medea Djaparidze’s life…

"Rezo made a marvelous impression on me. He was handsome and wrote brilliant poetry. But he was not used to being refused by women… I
sensed that great feelings awoke in me and, subconsciously I was scared," recalled Medea Djaparidze.

Those who knew the couple, know… It was difficult to exaggerate, the amazing love of the two amazing individuals was a real fairytale. They were the most beautiful couple, beautiful in the full sense of this word: beautiful in appearance, beautiful in spirit, beautiful at work they were serving.

"Once, newly married Medea Djaparidze and Rezo Tabukashvili entered one of the restaurants in Moscow… As they walked to their table, those who were sitting in the hall turned towards them. The orchestra stopped playing. First, some voices of delight were heard, and then applause broke out. Indeed, they applauded the beauty".

From the Memoirs of Malkhaz Abdushelishvili

The whole life of Medea Djaparidze and Rezo Tabukashvili was a model of love and family harmony. The subtle and genteel relationship, boundless sacrifice… That feature could quite well be the reason for them to be as distinguished in their creative works as they were…
They were great, really great – real stars…Yet, always cheerful and ordinary, smiling and generous. Nobody had ever thought of them as having "ideas above their station" or hear them even expressing ordinary satisfaction with their own selves, for their work.

"You should throw yourself into art like into the sea, strip yourself off naked, dive and again emerge. Swimming should make you cheerful and joyful.

You both are that type of swimmers."

Boris Pasternak

The door of this family was always open and the amazing tale started from its very threshold. It was a homely, warm and beautiful fairytale where "the great" would always listen to you as to their equals, caress you to make you thousand times higher than you were in reality… Soon, one more hero entered this threshold to live in the same fairytale, Lasha – "Lashiko", as warm as they, and as "different"… Then there was Medico (junior) – Lasha’s wife, then Reziko (junior) and "Bombo"…

"Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,
Save that, to die, I leave my love alone."

Rezo dedicated a wonderful translation of Shakespeare’s sonnets to his dearest wife.

During his last days, when Rezo was already sick with a fatal illness and was courageously resisting the pain, Medea, leaned against a hospital wall said to me amazingly calmly: "Look, what a bitter price one must pay for happiness"…

Lasha probably thought the same, when…

It is extremely difficult to carry the burden of being a son of Medea Djaparidze and Revaz Tabukashvili.

In one of the interviews, Lasha Tabukashvili said: "What I saw and felt in my family and from my parents was that Medea and Rezo had never mentioned even a word about the great services rendered to their country by them.  They were never proud of their deeds, but were always thinking about what they failed to do, what they wanted to do for their dearly loved homeland…"

MARINA VASHAKMADZE