Aleksidze Dimitri (Dodo)

Dimitri (Dodo) Aleksidze [23 February (8 March) 1910, Tbilisi, - 4 December 1984, Tbilisi.] was a theatre director, a teacher, and a public figure, People's Artist of Georgia (1955), Ukrain (1969), and USSR (1978), laureate of the Shota Rustaveli (1985), K. Marjanishvili (1976), and T. Shevchenko (1970) State Prizes.

He completed his studies at the first experimental school of labor and choreography in Tbilisi. In 1934, he graduated from the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts in Moscow. From 1935, he was a director at the Rustaveli Theater (1959–64 - chief director). Among his productions are the following noteworthy plays: Alkazar (1935) and Samshoblo (Homeland) (1936) by G. Mdivani, Gzajvaredinze (On the Crossroads) by S. Mtvaradze (1938), Professor Mamlock (1941) F. Wolf. He also staged lively and intellectually profound comedies: A Glass of Water (1941) by Eugène Scribe, The Lady Boba: a Woman of Little Sense by Lope de Vega (1942) The Honorable Maid (1943) by C. Goldoni, G. Sundukyan's "Pepo" (1951), "Don Caesar de Bazan" (1953) by A. d'Ennery and P. Dumanoir, P. Kakabadze's Kvarkvare Tutaberi (1958). He also directed dramas and tragedies that demonstrated high artistic excellence, psychoanalysis, and intellect: N. Baratashvili by M. Mrevlishvili, Misi Varskvlavi (His Star) by I. Mosashvili,Vassa Zheleznova by M. Gorky and others. One of his best works became Oedipus the King by Sophocles. In 1959, he staged Bakhtrioni by D. Gachechiladze, and in 1964, The Threepenny Opera by B. Brecht. From 1964 to 1970, he worked in Kyiv and in the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater he staged Sophocles' Antigone (1965) and Sonata Pathétique (1966) by M. Kulish. In 1967, he was appointed chief director of the Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Drama Theater in Kyiv, where he staged Razlom [The Fault] by B. Lavrenyov and The Honorable Maid by C. Goldoni. In 1970, he returned to Tbilisi and began working at the Marjanishvili Theater, where he staged F. Schiller's Don Carlos (1970), O. Korniychuk's Memory of the Heart (1971), Sophocles' Antigone (1972), N. Gogol's Marriage (1972). At the Georgian Opera and Ballet Theater, he staged "Otello" (1979) by G. Verdi, and at the Sokhumi Georgian Theater - Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" (1984). From 1939 to 1964 and from 1970 to 1984, he was the head of the directing and acting department at the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University. From 1950 to 1951, he was the director of the institute, and from 1966, he was a professor at the Kiev Theater Institute and the head of the theater studio.

From 1973 to 1984, Aleksidze was the chairman of the Georgian Theater Society. He authored books: Msakiobis Agzrdis Sakitkhebi (For the Development of an Actor) (1956), Rejisoris Mushaoba Spektaklze (Director's Work on the Plays) (1961).

He has received numerous awards.

N. Gurabanidze