Writer, playwright, publicist, talk show host
Lasha Bugadze is an author of numerous books and novels, among them: “Lucrecia 515”, “The President has come to see you”, “The Had”, “The Last Lesson”, “The Golden Age”, “The Navigator”. Lasha Bugadze’s plays are staged in many famous Georgian and foreign theatres: Rustaveli Theatre, M.Tumanishvili State Theatre, “Theatre of Royal District”, Batumi, Theatre, Poti Theatre, Britain’s, France,’ Russia’s, Poland’s different stages as: London Riverside Studio, London Globe Theatre, Theatre of Bidgochshi (Polland), Plessis Theatres a la Liche (France).
Lasha Bugadze has won many Georgian and international awards. He is a four times winner of Literature Award “Saba” in different nominations: the best novel of the year “While the Main Hero Slept (2007), The best short story of the year“ Nugzar and Mephistopheles” (2003), the best play of the year “Naphthaline” (2009) and “ Navigator” (2011). Besides, he is a winner of Russian art award “Triumph” in dramaturgy (2007), First Prize of BBC Radio Playwriting Award for the play “Navigator” (2011). His works are translated in to Russian, Armenian, French, English and Polish.
PUTIN’S MOM
Mono play
Many people in Georgia know that Vera Putina, an old
lady, lives in Kaspi, right in the middle of the country. The
place lies between the town where Stalin was born and
South Ossetia, the country that appeared as a result of
the Russian-Georgian war of 2008. In truth, the latter is
unacknowledged by the rest of the world except Russia,
which turned this historical region of Georgia into an occupied
territory. For many years the old lady has persistently
claimed that she is the mother of Vladimir Putin, the
Russian President, and tells strange, often paradoxically
plausible stories about the Russian ruler’s childhood.
If you happen to stop any passerby in and around Kaspi
and ask where Putin’s mum lives, you aren’t going to get
surprised looks. ‘Putin’s mum? She lives in the village of
Metekhi,’ will be a ready reply. Several years ago a documentary
film was made about her. However, the truthfulness
of her stories was neither confirmed nor refuted. Not
long ago I came across an article in one of the Georgian
papers saying that, with the help from their US colleagues,
the Georgian experts had DNA-tested the old
lady and Vladimir Putin’s hairs (apparently, the Americans
had managed to get hold of his hair). The article stated
the test proved beyond any reasonable doubt that she is
his mother. I cannot insist on the reliability of the information,
but at the same time it would be extremely interesting
to investigate the circumstances of acquiring
Putin’s hair. Did he notice it was pulled out? Was it flicked
off his shoulder? Did he just shed it? Could it be that one
of his fellow presidents tugged at it? During the crisis in
Ukraine, President Putin publicly stated that his soldiers
‘will be standing behind women and children’. Indeed,
many have seen the footage showing how Putin’s armoured
vehicles and militaries followed grannies, once
unjustly deprived, but shockingly aggressive and revengeful
now.
translated from Georgian by Maia Kiasashvili