Curatorial Statement
Avtandil Varsimashvili takes Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker as his starting point, but does not transfer its structure to the stage as a cinematic reproduction. The Writer, the Professor and the Stalker set out towards the Zone, a place where there is a Room believed to be capable of fulfilling a person's deepest desire.
The basic situation remains the same, but the focus shifts from the journey through space to the relationship between the three people making that journey. The Zone thus becomes less a question of geography and more a question of what each of them brings into it. Desire, faith and doubt become more important than the promise that desire can actually be fulfilled.
Teo Kukhianidze's set does not attempt to recreate Tarkovsky's landscapes. Instead, it uses a restrained industrial space and the relationship between light and darkness to create a sense of uncertainty.
Shako Mirianashvili plays the Stalker as a man whose faith in the Zone is constantly confronted by the doubts of his companions. Jaba Kiladze as the Writer and Goga Barbakadze as the Professor establish different relationships to the space through which they travel, while Sopho Gorelashvili and Giga Kakubava contribute to the further development of the stage structure.
Varsimashvili therefore does not provide an answer to what the Zone is. More important becomes the question of what happens to a person who approaches it and who, perhaps for the first time, must confront his own desire.
About the Performance
Decades after Andrei Tarkovsky’s iconic film shook the world, director Avtandil Varsimashvili brings the mysterious universe of Stalker to the theatre stage. However, this production is not a mere copy of the movie; it is a profound artistic reimagining that utilizes the unique language of live theatre to explore the deepest corners of the human soul.
In a harsh, post-apocalyptic reality lies "The Zone," a guarded territory where physics fails and a mythical "Terrace" allegedly grants deepest desires. A guide, the Stalker, leads a Writer and a Professor through this dangerous terrain. Their journey becomes an intense, claustrophobic psychological trial as they navigate the unseen, shifting perils of the Zone.
This philosophical thriller forces the audience to confront their own deepest fears, illusions, and the ultimate question: what is our true desire when all masks are stripped away?
