Review Fix Exclusive Midtown International Theatre Festival Coverage: Sophie Tortladze Talks ‘Bald Soprano’

July 4, 2016 Patrick Hickey Jr. Theatre 0

Review Fix chats with Sophie Tortladze, who discusses her new production of Eugene Ionesco’s classic “Bald Soprano,” which is set for a run at this year’s Midtown International Theatre Festival.

For more on this production, click here.


Tumanishvili Film Actors Theatre
BALD SOPRANO by Eugene Ionesco

Performance Schedule: Sun 7/24, 8:30pm; Mon 7/25, 8:15pm; Tues 7/26, 6:00pm
Running Time: 85 minutes
Venue: Main Stage, 312 W. 36th Street

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?

Sophie Tortladze: As much as the leading issue here concerns the universal problem of social estrangement, the alienation in relationship between people sometimes reaches the critical point. Therefore we decided showing this absurd problem even more visibly to public and by bringing this show to NY, MITF Festival we aim to discover how similar the essence of the play is to American reality, as much as it is quite tangible for the Georgian society.
 
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Tortladze: The creative process was much like a laboratory for the study of human behavior, investigation, research, a discovery. However the show is not an interactive in its direct meaning, but interactive indeed in hooking audience with that emotional burst which engaged the whole cast during the creative process.

Review Fix: What makes this different or special?

Tortladze: It is different in regards with the concept of the staging. The plot of the story is transferred in Georgia; Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist piece is played as if in Georgian reality. Well, it is the special one as well, as far as here the absurdist play is produced according to Stanislavsky method.

Review Fix:What did you learn about yourself through this process?

Tortladze:Firstly it was an experiment to me, to my artist colleagues, friends and co-thinkers as we have dealt with the theatrical narrative in a totally different approach which proved that I am ready for more experiments in theatre and as much as my company is.

Review Fix:How does it feel to be a part of something like this?

Tortladze: We look very much forward to bringing this show to the States. We are very much keen on meeting the genuine reaction of the new audience, delighted by this chance to be part of this great occasion.

Review Fix:What are your ultimate goals for this production and for the future?

Tortladze: We wish the audience to become more attentive to each other, much considering and sensitive. We wish them reflect upon what is the major thing in their life excluding the vanity of daily existence.

Review Fix:What do you think your audiences will enjoy the most?

Tortladze:/strong>After success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland (2014) we considered that it will be quite interesting for NY public and we look very much forward to meeting with them.

Review Fix:What’s next?

Tortladze:We are successfully running our latest premier of King Lear in Tbilisi, at Tumanishvili Film Actors Theater and we are building our future international tours.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13890 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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