“The epic battle of Stalingrad turned the banks of the Volga River into a bloody massacre.
Several years ago, I stumbled across an excerpt from a war correspondent’s notes: ‘After the battle, the closer I got to Stalingrad, the more unrealistic the surrounding landscape became. Dead horses were everywhere – one, still alive, struggled on three legs dragging it’s forth leg behind, wounded or maimed as it was. That was heartbreaking. During the advance of the Soviet vanguard, 10,000 horses were killed. The corpses of the horses that died in the battle were strewn across the battlefield, killed by tanks, bullets and heavy bombardment’.
The image of that horse on three legs haunted me for a long time. There, in my mind, The battle of Stalingrad ’s theme began to take shape. I remembered the long-forgotten images from my childhood of widows in black, invalids and cripples, who were everywhere in Kutaisi, where I grew up, my grandmother’s tears and sorrow. All those images had tormented me until I wrote this play, a requiem for Stalingrad.”
Rezo Gabriadze
PLAYWRIGHT, DIRECTOR AND ART DIRECTOR:
REZO GABRIADZE
Running time: 90 minutes
Premiered: 1996, Dijon, France
Performers
Igor Toltikov, Igor Luchinsky, Tatiana Kuznetsova, Valery Bassel, Iury Plashkov, Oleg Shkolnik, Viktor Strizhev, Nataliya Smirnova, Inessa Romanova, Oleg Fendura, Anatoly Paduka, Iury Loparev, Vasily Yakovets, Evgeny Buber, Iury Vitikov, Tatiana Minkina, Svetlana Vinogradova, Liya Akhedzhakova
Animators
Tamar Amirajibi, Anna Nijaradze,
Niko Gelovani, Badri Gvazava, Irakli Sharashidze
Puppet Masters and Set Designers
Rezo Gabriadze, Luka Gonashvili, Shmagi Savaneli, Luka Gonashvili, Vladimer Meltser, Avtandil Gonashvili, Gela Djangirashvili, Gayane Takaishvili, Maya Kobakhidze, Tamar Amirajibi, Irina Udjmajuridze, Tamar Kobakhidze
Musical Directors
Rezo Gabriadze, Elene Japaridze
