With Gabriel Garcia Marquez
David Papava Gurji is a Theater Directed, Drama Teacher and Actor was born in 1970 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Acting training received in famous Moscow Film School “VGIK” under the direction of professor A. Batalov. After working for several years in Moscow theaters as an actor, he returned to Tbilisi where he graduated from the Directing course with renowned director and teacher M. Tumanishvili. For a while he trained with Peter Brook in Paris.
At the end of the course in 1998 David received a job offer from Riverside Studios Theater in London where later he realized 4 productions. In total, David Papava Gurji directed more then 30 plays. As he lived in Britain for 15 years most of performances were staged in London. But there were invitations from other countries - in Cape-Town South Africa, Rustaveli and Marjanishvili Theaters in Georgia , 3 productions in Colombia.
David also has extensive theater teaching experience at various Theater Institute in Britain, Georgia, Argentina and Colombia.
David started his directing work in London at Riverside Studios. There followed during the next 10 years many productions in different spaces around London. These were years of research and laboratory work using different theatre traditions and techniques from Russian avant-garde to the ritualistic theatre of Antonin Artaud, from devised pieces to Shakespeare’s classics. They were very important years in his development as an artist: learning and exploring the boundaries of possibility and perfecting my directing technique.
But real big success came to David in becoming the first director in either theatre or film to be given permission by Gabriel Garcia Marquez to direct his Nobel Prize winning novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude”. It was an amazing privilege, as well as a formidable challenge and responsibility, to take on such a task in Marquez’ native country. For Colombians there was a big question over how a foreigner – a European – can transfer to the stage Marquez’s unique language of “Magic Realism”. The production premiered in 2007 during Marquez’ 80th birthday celebrations. The performance had overwhelming success nationally and internationally which was reflected in world press covering this event in over 35 countries.
In same year I accepted an offer from the Mayor of Tbilisi to become Artistic Director of the “Globe Theatre” in Georgia which was in artistic crisis. The Globe is a small but very beautiful theatre in the heart of old Tbilisi. David's vision was to turn the theatre into a contemporary arts centre which was unique at that time in Georgia.
His main objective was to discover and develop new talented artists by providing them with space and resources. Within a short time The Globe became a vibrant and popular space amongst Tbilisians and visitors. Also we were building international partnerships. In 2008 “Globe” was visited by Nick Starr and Purni Morell from NT London and later by David Lan from the Young Vic. The outcome of these visits was a collaborative project between “Globe” and NT when our best artists travelled to NT studio for a month to work with British artists.
In the beginning of 2009 David was invited by Colombian NT to return to work there as a theatre director and drama teacher, which he accepted, remaining in Colombia for the next couple of years. During these years he staged another four plays, one of them in Buenos Aires, worked at Ibero-American Theatre Festival in Bogota curating East European productions. Also David ran Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ “Ibero-American Theatre Foundation” as Artistic director with the main focus on developing international theatre work by bringing to Colombia prominent artists from abroad to work with local actors
In 2013 I returned to live to London, but occasionally travelled to Georgia where he directed recent performances in major theatres Rustaveli NT, Marjanishvili and Sate Music and Drama Theatres.