Dodo Antadze

Dodo Antadze (Georgian: დოდო ანთაძე; born Isaak Antadze; 10 October 1900 – 18 April 1978) was a Georgian theatre director. A pupil of Kote Marjanishvili, he led several of the principal theatres of Soviet Georgia and was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1971.^[1]

Antadze was born on 10 October 1900 in the village of Vardzia, in the Kharagauli district of present-day Georgia.^[2] From 1919 to 1920 he studied at the drama studio of Giorgi Jabadari in Tbilisi, and he later became a pupil of the director Kote Marjanishvili.^[1][2]

Antadze began at the Rustaveli Theatre as an assistant director and, from 1925, as a director.^[2] From 1928 he took part in establishing the company that became the Marjanishvili Theatre, working closely with Marjanishvili, and from 1933 to 1938 he was its director and artistic head.^[1][2] He subsequently led the Lado Meskhishvili Theatre in Kutaisi (1938–1952), the Griboedov Russian Drama Theatre in Tbilisi (1952–1957), and again the Rustaveli Theatre (1957–1962).^[2] From 1962 to 1974 he chaired the Theatrical Society of Georgia.^[2]

His productions included Shakespeare's Othello (1939) and King Lear (1941) and Gogol's The Government Inspector (1952).^[2] He was also the author of memoirs on the history of Georgian theatre, including Days of the Recent Past (two volumes, 1962–1966) and Together with Marjanishvili (1975).^[1][2]

• People's Artist of the Georgian SSR (1940)
• People's Artist of the USSR (1971)
• Kote Marjanishvili State Prize of the Georgian SSR (1977), for the book Together with Marjanishvili
• Three Orders of the Red Banner of Labour
• Two Orders of the Badge of Honour

^[1][2]

Antadze died in Tbilisi on 18 April 1978 and was buried at the Didube Pantheon.^[2]

• Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Tbilisi. 1975. pp. 456–457 (in Georgian).