Vasil (Vaso) Abashidze ( ka, ვასო (ვასილ) აბაშიძე; russian: Васи́лий Абаши́дзе) (4 December 1854 – 9 October 1926) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

theater actor and a founder of a realistic acting tradition in Georgia.

Career

Born in

Dusheti Dusheti () is a town in Georgia (country), Georgia, the administrative center of Dusheti Municipality, in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti mkhare, region, 54 km northeast of the nation's capital of Tbilisi. History Dusheti is on both banks of the small ...

, Georgia, then part of

Tiflis Governorate The Tiflis Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire with its administrative center in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi). In 1897, it constituted 44,607 sq. kilometres in area and had a population ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, Abashidze worked as a teacher in

Kutaisi Kutaisi (, ka, ქუთაისი ) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the third-most populous city in Georgia, traditionally, second in importance, after the capital city of Tbilisi. Situated west of Tbilis ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. At the same time, he played for amateur theatre troupes in Kutaisi. In 1879, he joined the renewed professional Georgian dramatic troupe in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

and featured in comedies by both Georgian and foreign authors. His best roles included Famusov (

Griboyedov Griboyedov may refer to: * Alexander Griboyedov (1795-1829), Russian playwright and diplomat * Griboyedov Canal, a canal in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg * Griboyedov, Armenia, a town in the Armavir Province of Armenia * Griboyedov Prize ...

’s ''

Woe from Wit ''Woe from Wit'' (, also translated as "The Woes of Wit", "Wit Works Woe", ''Wit's End'', and so forth) is Alexander Griboyedov's comedy in verse, satirizing the society of post-Napoleonic Moscow, or, as a high official in the play styled it, "a ...

''), Khlestakov (

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

’s ''

The Government Inspector ''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pla ...

''), Belogubov and Iusov (

Alexander Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Остро́вский; ) was a Russian playwright, generally considered the greatest representative of the Russian realistic period. The author of 47 origina ...

’s ''A Lucrative Post''), and Tartuffe and Argan (

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

’s ''

The Imaginary Invalid ''The Imaginary Invalid'', ''The Hypochondriac'', or ''The Would-Be Invalid'' ( French title ''Le Malade imaginaire'', ) is a three- act ''comédie-ballet'' by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes (H.495, H. ...

''). He translated and adapted over 42 comedies and vaudevilles, and in 1885 he founded the theatrical paper ''Teatri'' ("The Theater"). In 1922, he was granted the title of

People's Artist People's Artist is an honorary title in the Soviet Union, Union republics, in some other Eastern bloc states (and communist states in general), as well as in a number of post-Soviet states, modeled after the title of the People's Artist of the USS ...

Soviet Georgia The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

. Abashidze's name has been given to the Tbilisi Music and Drama State Theatre. He died in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

and he is buried at the Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures.

Family

In 1879 he married the actress Mako Saparova (1860–1940), later People's Artist of Georgia (1925).Сапарова-Абашидзе, М.
Their daughter Anastasia (Taso) Abashidze (1881–1958) was also a theatre actress.

References

External links

* *
Vaso Abashidze
on Georgian National Filmography {{DEFAULTSORT:Abashidze, Vaso 1854 births 1926 deaths People from Mtskheta-Mtianeti People from Tiflis Governorate 19th-century male actors from Georgia (country) People's Artists of Georgia Soviet male stage actors Translators from Georgia (country) Male stage actors from Georgia (country) 20th-century translators Burials at Mtatsminda Pantheon