“I am not of the wolf species to live solely for getting food for myself - nor am I a bull who needs only grass and cows to mate. I am the son of a nation. I cannot stay idle and calmly watch what is going on in my country…” Data Tutashkhia

In 1918, Vakhtang Megvinetukhutsesi from Atskuri and the 14 year-old Elene Megvinetukhutsesi from the village of  Khorkhe got married.
Both villages are in Kakheti, but the Khorkhe branch of the Megvinetukhutsesi family originates from Gori, in Kartli. After the death of his four sons, Elene’s father having been left only with the daughters, decided to marry his youngest daughter to the Atskurian Vakhtang Megvinetukhutsesi and thus have the family name preserved.

The Atskurian Megvinetukhutsesis were a well off family that owned numerous cattle and lands. Once, Mr. Otar’s grandfather sold thousand heads of cattle to help out a relative in trouble.

Because of their close kinship with Kakutsa Cholokashvili (Kakutsa’s wife was from the Megvinetukhutsesi family and Vakhtang Megvinetukhutsesi’s brother, Shakro was married to Cholokashvili’s sister), the two Megvinetukhutsesi brothers – Vakhtang and Shakro, with their entire families, were forced to flee the persecution and settled in Imereti.

In the early thirties Vakhtang’s family moved to Tbilisi…

Mr. Otar was born on 16 January 1932, in the house on Union Street (today’s Takaishvili Street). The family of five lived in a tiny room of nine square meters and therefore a hammock was used as a bed for the newly-born baby. Later, as he grew up and could not fit in the hammock any more, the floor took the place of the hammock. Very often, when a late guest would drop in, his father would lovingly say: “Now, son, move a little bit”. He would then shift the child’s mattress and leaning on his elbow, little Otari would listen to their songs, jokes and toasts with immense pleasure…

Monologue: “It is strange, how the images of childhood are imprinted on your memory. Today, looking back, even the times of hardship evoke pleasant memories and you do not perceive them as difficult episodes in your life”.

His mother was a housewife. Being a young mother of a large family, she was unable to continue education, but everybody admired her devotion and hard work. During the last years of her life, in spite of a serious disease (she suffered from asthma), she would get out of bed whenever her illness receded and set about her daily domestic chores. Nobody ever saw her sitting idle.

Monologue: “The people I loved most, became role models for me. And the power of an example turnes out to be a great thing. My father used to say: I had everything, my son, and it did not surprise me. Now I own nothing and this does not surprise me either. I was brought up with this wisdom. Indeed, a man of my position could have had more, but this is of no concern to me. I’ve got a sixteen-year-old car and I live on my salary. But this isn’t something that would worry me...”

Pirosmani (cheerfully): “Of course I am a poor man. Why should I not be? I spend my poverty as a rich man spends his wealth. Poverty is the only thing I possess. I have it in plenty, more than I can use.”

For me, the war started with my mother’s scream.

Monologue: “I was playing in the yard when I heard my mum’s shrill voice. This was a cry of a terrible premonition.”

Mr. Otar’s brother, who was thirteen years older and had taken part in the Finnish war, lived in a borderline region of Russia. And indeed, the mother’s heart told her that she would never see her eldest son again.

Chonta (with a smile): “What perturbs you? You need not worry about me. Bring the banner and let me pay my last tribute. I have loved you and as I am dying, I give you my eternal allegiance. Let others love you now. Let others be in your service!”

Otar had a classmate, Guram Chichinadze - a bold boy, who sang and played well and had a wonderful sense of humour.

Monologue: “I was a shy, bashful kid and I liked to communicate with him. We complemented each other, I guess. I hung out with him a lot. Together we went to the recitation circle of the Pioneers Palace. The circle was run by Nodar Chkheidze and Vakhtang Sulakvelidze.”

This was how Otar Megvinetukhutsesi entered on his long and distinguished career in the world of theatre, although neither his family tradition nor the environment in which he grew up suggested that this young man would one day be a great dramatic artist. It is also true, though, that from the entire group Vakhtang Sulakvelidze singled him out together with Tengiz Archvadze and advised them that acting was their vocation.

His classmates are still his best friends today. They have preserved the bonds of their childhood love and take great care of it. As for the friends he acquired later in life…

Monologue: “Being an actor is a strange profession. When other people finish their work, we are starting ours. Perhaps that is why most of my friends belong to the world of theatre. They are: Tengiz, Nodar, Irakli, my greatest pain Rezo Khobua…”

Pirosmani: “Let me be behind, and my friend in front. Let him watch me, a small artist standing on the horizon who have dealt with a big scoundrel. You are far from me, very far… on the horizon and beyond that… And still you are big and beautiful, as a friend painted on the picture.”
Toward the end of the fifties, when Mr. Otar was already the Marjanishvili Theatre actor, he met Guranda Gabunia, the first-year student of the Faculty of Acting at the Institute of Dramatic Art. Soon, they got married and she became also his irreplaceable partner on the stage.

The 18 year-old Otar Megvinetukhutsesi enrolled in the Institute of Dramatic Art. Mira Ratner, Akaki Dvalishvili, Dimitri Alexidze, Akaki Khorava, Akaki Vasadze, Maliko Mrevlishvili and Babulia Nikolaishvili were the people who initiated him into the profession. Although Mrs. Lili Ioseliani has never been his official teacher, Mr. Otar considers her as his mentor and the architect of his acting career.

Monologue: “She taught me the fundamentals of the profession and gave me the ability to perceive the depth of the artistic work. I was still rather young when I separated from Lili and already then did I discover that I was capable of working on a role independently.”

In 1954, Lili Ioseliani met the young actor again at the Marjanishvili Theatre…

In 1956, Archil Chkhartishvili staged Vazha Pshavela’s Outcast. Pier Kobakhidze was hired to perform the leading part of Chonta. Megvinetukhutsesi was his understudy. Two weeks before the premiere Mr. Kobakhidze had to leave Tbilisi and when he returned back, he let the beginning actor to perform in the dress rehearsal. And it was Mr. Otar who played on the opening night. This was his first big success. The audience met Chonta-Megvinetukhutsesi’s every appearance on the stage with warm applause. After the play was over, one famous actor told him: “Everyone receives the final applause, but the applause of this kind is more valuable”.

The young actors who came to the Marjanishvili Theatre were fortunate to work with the older generation of such distinguished and unique actors as Veriko Anjaparidze, Sesilia Takaishvili, Shalva Ghambashidze, Pier Kobakhidze, Sandro Zhorzholiani, Vaso Godziashvili, Giorgi Shavgulidze, Akaki Kvantaliani and others who imparted their knowledge and immense experience to them. But…

Monologue: “They treated us as if we were their children. They nurtured us and promoted our professional development. No one would have even imagined that a disagreement would ever occur between us. But apparently, every generation has something different to say and has its own road to pursue. We wanted Giga Lordkipanidze and Lili Ioseliani to be our producers. But they were such great actors that they rebelled against Marjanishvili himself.”

Giga Lordkipanidze (at that time Lili Ioseliani was already working at the Gori Theatre) together with a large group of actors, left the Marjanishvili stage and established a new theatre in Rustavi.

This is what the well-known theatre critic Nodar Gurabanidze wrote in a newspaper of that time: “On 30 November 1967, nearly all of Tbilisi went to Rustavi. The theatre was packed with people, the most prominent representatives of all fields of art, science and culture gathered there… Like Lope de Vegas’ “The Sheep’s Spring” which marked the beginning of the Soviet Georgian theatre, Edmund Rostan’s “Sirano de Bergeraque” became the beginning  of the Rustavi theatre…”

Monologue: “The advantage of a theatre of young actors over an academic theatre is that it knows no rivalry and envy. When I went on stage in Rustavi, my friends would encourage  me from the wings and delight in my success. Enthusiasm, the love of one’s work overrides  egotism. There are people who maintain this quality until the end of their lives, but, sadly, this is a rare phenomenon…”

In 1976, the actor returned to his native Marjanishvili Theatre…

Otar Megvinetukhutsesi first appeared on a cinema screen in 1958. He played Jambulat in Siko Dolidze’s Fatima. This role was very warmly received by the public. Then came Giga Betaneli in The Kind People, Bondo in Princess Maya, Jokola in Entreaty, Gaioz in Tariel Golua, Vakhtang in The Autumn Sun, Elioz in The Tree of Desire and many others. The actor himself regards that the roles of David Agmashenebeli (the Builder) in The Great Master’s Hand, Data Tutashkhia in Data Tutashkhia and Rabinovich in Go Away From Me were particular milestones for him. In this latter movie directed by the Russian Dimitri Astrakhan, Megvinetukhutsesi won the prize for the best performance of a male character at the IV International Tokyo cinema festival in 1991.

Monologue: “At different stages of the new history of our country, I have often expressed my opinion about certain events. I could have been mistaken. It is not my nature to keep silent for diplomatic reasons. It is politicians’ business. I am not used to demagoguery and I don’t like this feature in others either. If you are a politician, then you may hold back what you have to say and thus bring benefit to the community. But for us, the ordinary citizens, this is not proper behaviour. That is why I always said what I thought and, honestly, I have never regretted having done so. It might happen that you change your mind later and if you realize that you have made a mistake, you must admit your error, that’s all. There were a number of times when I gave my view on certain matters. Time will judge whether I was right or wrong.”

Today Otar Megvinetukhutsesei is the artistic director of the Marjanishvili Theatre. The old theatre, like the entire cultural life in Georgia today, is experiencing many difficult challenges, that require from its management to take many extraordinary decisions, at times very hard and painful to make. Yet they are necessary to preserve the theatre and the continuity of its outstanding artistic tradition.

Monologue: “I frequently give this example: Vaso Abashidze went to visit Mukhran Batoni and asked him for the money to support the theatre. Mukhran Batoni told him to twist and turn. And he did! He was a great comic actor…

I cannot twist and turn, I can do nothing about it, you know. Today the Marjanishvili Theatre is in a suspended animation because of the lack of funds. The last time, we received twenty thousand lari for staging Kvarkvare. Now we have been promised since August to get twenty-four thousand lari for a new spectacle, but we haven’t received the money yet.”

King Giorgi: “Here traitors outnumber the faithful – traitors of their own people.”

However, regardless of the lack of funds and other everyday problems, the Marjanishvili Theatre performances continue to inspire the public and win their grateful admiration. The recent guest performances given in Poland and Latvia, Bulgaria and Germany, Moscow and Petersburg, Glasgow and Edinburgh are an excellent testimony of this. (Participation in the Edinburgh Festival was largely made possible through Keti Dolidze’s great effort.)

Recently, Otar Megvinetukhutsesi was awarded Russia’s most prestigious theatrical prize Chaika (Seagull). In grateful response to this high recognition, the actor gave a special performance in Moscow.

“What is left in this world of a true artist who has passed into the eternity? Several sequences, that did not completely satisfy himself perhaps, several reviews and the ovation of a grateful audience.”  With this words Otar Megvinetukhutsesi opened the “Evening for the Two” in Moscow. That evening assumed a very special place in his professional biography, not only because there was no end to the applause and flowers from the audience (Otar Megvinetukhutsesi and Guranda Gabunia have always received them in plenty), but because the four hours of this theatrical rendezvous were full of loving admiration and warmth. The evening, attended by Moscow’s cultural elite, was another telling evidence that true art is above the vicissitudes of life and has its own way of reaching people’s hearts to fill them with enduring love, trust and hope.