Keti Chukhrov / Guram Matskhonashvili

Global Congress of Post-Prostitution (2019)
​Performance

Written by philosopher Keti Chukhrov and staged by theater director Guram Matskhonashvili, the play tells the story of a sophisticated congress on “post-prostitutive” sexual-intellectual practices to be held in Zugdidi, Georgia. The inhabitants of the small impoverished post-Soviet town hope to give their lives an upgrade by engaging with the most advanced contemporary theory and inviting its hottest stars for a meeting with local informants. The play follows the weird protagonists of the fictitious “post-prostitutive” field of study—sex experts, social scientists, curators, and sex workers—listening in on their absurdly pretentious philosophizing and their dramatic, even desperate cries for help. The high-flown theories of contemporary culture clash with local post-Soviet interpretations of what post-prostitution might be. Global arrogance tramples local dignity. As the congress unfolds, the action takes a dangerous turn when its characters exploit one another as is only possible in a world where prostitution is everywhere.

20.9.19, 19:00
21.9.19, 21:00

Duration: ca. 100 min.

Orpheum
Orpheumgasse 8
8020 Graz
♿ Venue accessible for wheelchairs
http://www.spielstaetten.at

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In English 

Free admission with Festival Pass
Capacity limited, reservation recommended, reservation fee: 2 Euro
Single ticket 16/12 Euro

Commissioned and produced by steirischer herbst ’19

Text: Keti Chukhrov
Director: Guram Matskhonashvili
Stage design and choreography: Lana Kavrelishvili 
Assistant director: Lasha Shanidze
Performance: Beka Goderdzishvili, Paata Inauri, Nato Kakhidze, Ketevan Khitiri, Nino Koridze, Irakli Kvergelidze, Nata Murvanidze, and Niara Tchitchinadze
Translation of text fragments from Russian to German: Ainsley Morse

Keti Chukhrov (1970, Sukhumi) is an art theorist, philosopher, playwright, and performer. Her dramatic poems and plays explore the breakdown of human relationships (both social and sexual) and language in a postsocialist, posthumanist age. They reveal her philosophical preoccupations with theories of performance and late Soviet Marxism. Chukhrov lives in Moscow and London.

Guram Matskhonashvili (1989, Tbilisi) is a playwright, filmmaker, journalist, and critic. He has written and directed several theater productions dealing with human rights, transgender issues, and the socio-spatial order of cities. Matskhonashvili lives in Tbilisi.