The Problem of Identity and the 19th-Century Georgian Theatre

The formation of a collective national identity takes place through cultural and creative activity. National identity is the unified system of spiritual symbols, icons, values, which have been created, refined, reproduced and placed in genetic code of a human being. But at the same time it does not interfere with human being’s openness to changes. Culture appears to be a fundamental component of every nation's national identity. Creation of the professional theater was a significant event in the life of the Georgian people. The first theatrical performance was held on January 2, 1850. The theater was an acting space which was emotionally experienced by the Georgian people as a thread of historical memory connecting with the nation’s past in the conditions of Imperialistic policies (XIX century Russia annexed Georgia). Theatre stood in the forefront of the struggle against colonial oppression, preached devotion to the idea of the homeland, instilled patriotic feelings in its audience and prepared it for the fight for national independence. In the XIX century Georgian theater was the path for preservation of the national identity, originality, by which Georgians continued to maintain their own national "self" and distanced themselves from the Russian imperial political, national and cultural space.