moscow the fashionable new theatre etc renowned georgian artistic director robert stewart or is presiding over addressing of shakespeare's the tempest not so long ago he was forced to resign from his post as a director of a leading state in tbilisi. the british invited me to london to serious future the plan was that i will stage a play there in two thousand and twelve. today stewart has to stage his productions abroad the international association of theatre critics is up in arms over his exile. it was. then dismissed that this was the kind of political demonstration the next day after he was forced to resign thousands of people joined a rally in central tbilisi in front of the theater the company released a statement saying they can be no other autistic directed them steward of the

theater. in one of his earlier comments president's office really said the intelligentsia should be flushed you know just like when you flush the toilet. the leaders of many state sponsored theaters were dismissed under mikala successfully nearly the entire faculty of the conservatoire and the academy of arts were replaced senior professors in almost every university were forced to retire. the town of gori capital of the georgian province of she to contemplate. gori intellectuals have been discussing saakashvili latest decision. how do bitches

villi a young and ambitious journalist is filming another story about robots who are george's independent media has been focused on his expansion. the trial of the t.v. company was founded in one thousand nine hundred nine. john doe not yet just really started the venture with only a video recorder and a transmitter borrowed from a friend. he had barely any money and even less experience. john doe did everything with his own two hands sheer enthusiasm kept driving him forward. ten years later everybody in georgia had heard of the small t.v. company. we began experiencing very serious problems off of the saakashvili government came to power in two thousand and three. in the following year defense minister really tried to talk us into selling the company to him but we turned the

request down that was when the problems began piling up the interviews were now off limits to our journalists they were often based not been humiliated in public or. in the summer of two thousand and ten the government decided to remove a monument to stalin from the town's central square journalists wanted to cover the story when both supporters and opponents of the demolition gathered on the square. reporters wanted to present an objective story by filming both sides but they stood no chance. of plainclothes policemen came up to us not to film anything where they prevented us from performing our professional activities they attacked me and my camera we were detained and our camera was confiscated. after the square was cleared of demonstrators opposing the demolition

the camera was handed back to the journalists and released from the police station . we were able to film this part. of the camera back to us something was missing they had deleted the footage of the rally against the monuments demolition. the only part left was of these pro-government activists applauding that it was never john doe motive to make trial position media but for several years now government officials have steered clear of his talk show. we make no distinction between the two sides we invited both of them to go on but the fact is that the opposition comes here and the government keeps away that's why the government claims that we're an opposition channel but that's not true local officials turn down or imitation because they've been told by higher ups not to give interviews to our journalists or appear on our programs.

journalists from this regional t.v. company even from the building housing the local administration they are denied interviews and accreditation to important events. despite all the problems the t.v. company is still in operation with news bulletins going out daily the arrival of any political scene has thrown george authorities into total confusion. vanished villi has invested a great deal of money in the georgian economy but soon after he announced his intention to stand in the next presidential election the country's government stripped him of his citizenship the following is an excerpt from the first formal press conference held on november the first twenty eleven. he'd really dull the need for the people to regain a lost sense of justice is of crucial importance now even sack inner circle is

stricken with terror there is no trace of self-government everything is in the hands of one man. incidentally there was actually a time when those young people who are now in the government were in the pay of ivanishvili. essentially he funded the state machinery he has built theatres among many other things. seventy year old. great expectations on a vanished really he also has a serious topic with the present day or forty's. was unceremoniously fired from the academy of fine arts after a professional period lasting many years. i spoke out against the regime in public i gave interviews i didn't keep silent. in the

chancellor this is what he said to me afterwards you don't let us live what this is because i was there. may have decided that giving me the sack was the easiest way of resolving the problem. lost his job but not his work so he began to devote more time to painting however there's hardly a place in today's job he can show his paintings to the public. is not a wealthy country and there just isn't enough money to support. museums can barely make ends meet. your campaign seek to create the impression that all is well in the country. do you know what kind of a nation is in the making. of people of well everyone else lives to insure.

his wife marina is an actress she's employed. director for decades. this is one of the latest newspapers robert still writes in an article that dina ivanishvili will emerge victorious. oppositionists he writes that unless saakashvili leaves his post of his own free will he will face the same fate as colonel gaddafi and i write sad really took his stance in the right place at the right time. when george's ministry of culture. and her fellow actors at the theatre took to the streets. five thousand people turned out to express support for the favor of director. traffic in the avenue in front of the playhouse.

we met face to face with the spectators who had adored. all this time the actors were wearing such t. shirts as the. these words mean i'm fired i like the expression on his face he seems to be saying i'm fired so what after all his work lives on. the ministry of culture is official excuse for his sacking xenophobia. still ahead ask why he made a secret of his armenian groups. to work. with a man who keeps his father's nationality a secret. so the big question is who is more zina far be. the president who isn't supposed to hide anything.

someone asking him why did you make a secret out of it. during a theatre festival in georgia in september twentieth seven members of the international association of theatre critics interviewed robert stewart for an hour asking him about all of the details their conclusion about his misfortune was made in an open letter in support of robert stewart a. f numbers of the theater and supporters of freedom of expression we have been. by him overlap with us throughout from his post by the georgian government like so many people around them but we feel that the government had used thirteen statement attributed to mr well as a pretext to put punish

a critical voice from within their teeth the community. the protests no letters by the theaters actors nor a direct appeal by international organizations could make the georgian government budge. saakashvili never forgave the director he sold as undesirable. in the system while i think it was a very good way to end more involvement with this theater. in syria typical for the theater. director out of the tradition stance and now it's mark turn to be good and i'm glad that i was kicked out by the government not by the actors there would have been a real catastrophe for me. today robert stewart a works abroad he had plans to stage shakespeare's tempest in moscow's at center a theater six months before he was exiled. one of the problems

you are with this is the problem a man expelled from his home together with his daughter being driven out of his senses of whom. many reviewers think stewart his production is actually about himself prosperous the play's main character is an avid reader scholar and artist. lan expels him from his hometown because he fears that prosper will strip him of power. this is easy to cry to deceive the brewer to us to son i to the winds whose pity sighing back again did us bud loving wrong. stuart a hopes he'll be allowed to stage productions in georgia. but this is

impossible for the time being. george's best theaters are run by the government the ministry of culture has no intention of funding stewart as productions. i won't give up so easily i will survive this trial. which brightened. soon from phones to christians. who threw stones on t.v. dot com. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

of. georgia's capital tbilisi has acquired a new look in recent years the city's spirit and its unique architecture have been restored central tblisi attracts many tourists however several streets are still massive construction sites. forests come here to see the city's historical center it would be good if they don't really care about its outskirts. is one of george's most successful restoration

architects the old central areas of several towns have been revamped. divied began as restoration work in the ancient town of cigna. the job. was nowhere near the scale of tbilisi but back then it was the first time that several neighborhoods were restored civil cheney asleep. then the amount of work and its intensity were overwhelming in the beginning. the project took nearly nine months of continuous work. we only slept three or four hours a day. but despite all the difficulties we completed the job successfully. signa the today is one of george's tourist attractions while architects were trying

to improve the town's appearance the residents had no idea of what was really going on behind their backs before restoration work began a small shop in central signal was taking in a small but stable income for. order to shoot it's a restoration started in two thousand and seven. was mayor at the time she came to us and said that they needed our facilities and that we have to go to one of. them thirty officers from the financial police came to our store and said that unless my husband and i give up the fight we would drop in prison for the rest of our alliance. old and read georgian stand no chance of winning a fight against the while old machinery of the state the fifty square meters of the shop no longer belong to its form a owners. we have been deprived of the only means of earning

a living and i have got their originals of all the papers i want to see if they lend elias to the ownership rights on the basis of comp is up to the so far we've been unable to find justice but we don't give up hope. renovation work began in the historical part of gori in the early autumn of two thousand and eleven some of the residents are worried by the prospect of being barred from their homes are after the renovation but others still have trust in the promises made by the local administration alexander the lids and lives and works in the same house. as you have at the moment my driving school and my home are one in the series. both of us are going to move out soon of what will stay in a new place only for a time after their innovation will return here of a lot of. renovation is in full swing in

a nearby houses all the tenants have already been evicted. alexander expects to be forced out any time now he hopes his students will get their licenses before work begins on his house. would it be. street in the neighborhood will look much nicer i don't know what may have happened somewhere once i'm not responsible for that anyway. but i know for sure that i'll continue to be master here as long as. and no doubt my descendants will be to. own restoration and the way people legalize their claim to renovated houses were the subject of a talk show with a local t.v. company try lettie the show lasted one and a half hours none of the officials invited to the program turned up this is what an independent lawyer representing the opposition of the local municipal council had

to say. the municipal council has been stripped of its rights. a situation where everything depends on mikheil saakashvili good will is wrong. that is what people in every family think. alexander was among those who called the talk show. this is ridiculous this is a project suggested by the government and the municipal authorities why do you doubt that it will be carried out. out of a comic book. or did you only have an all agreements or did you see the papers saying you own the place. their papers are ready i'm told they invited us in we had an understanding we signed the papers and they will explain to us what will happen next. is

a local deputy was less optimistic he felt government p.r. campaigns have pulled the wool over people's eyes and those people who were suspicious of the work was simply afraid to speak out. as i think most of the people in georgia today. or against the president and his men i hear is for many many people they all say we don't like sack policies but we will speak out because we have families mothers fathers children and other relatives. and yet it is the owner and director general of trial. he can't be fired from his job he can't be prevented from inviting the opposition to take part in live broadcast but the company is a thorn in the side of the country's leaders in the autumn of two thousand and ten . was asked to sell it to a government controlled construction firm for six million dollars.

company has already earned a reputation. and that's quite an asset in itself. i might have sold it if they hadn't told me i must leave the country and never come back. at noon three days later a police patrol stopped john doe while he was driving to a bank. i was stopped the policeman demanded i produce my papers after the us they pulled me out of a hunk of to me and forced me to the ground then four more police cars turned up they punched and kicked me one passes by i gathered on the scene the cops picked me up from the ground my clothes all had boot prints on them they cleaned me out. and wished me away to court. three hours later the judge slapped a three hundred dollar fine on yet is really for obstructing the police for video

cameras mounted on a nearby bank and the shop had recorded the moment when the director general of the prominent t.v. company was beaten up but the film was not filed or used in the case. this pressure and complete monopoly of the media caused by sack ash really is absolutely unheard of in front of the intimidation of the press is unprecedented. there is daily pressure on my employees associates and relatives to the seizure of a cash in transit vehicle belonging to my bank was totally against the law. but all of this woman told me back. for a billionaire the arrest of one cash fan is a drop in the ocean what is more important is the fact that several major georgian companies withdrew their account from his two bank within days there were financial

inspections in some of its branches. actress marine from the show. has a vital stake in seeing banks continued prosperity. the bank funded research yours actors and directors at many theaters it also provided money for maintenance of the salaries paid to actors and other theater employees are not high enough to know no matter how high they may be the bank paid actors twice or three times as much. a protest in support of. the way in ga thousands of people across the country have opened accounts in the bank branches they deposit whatever money they have george and intellectuals hope that if. his ground and be able to continue financing scientists artists writers and actors.

their long lived piece i doubt there we are free people who are afraid of that actress in philly found employment at the show. when she was twenty one years old she thinks of robert stuart as a second father. he was the one who saw her talent and made her the lead actress. this. this theater has a history of celebrated directors. but the big question is who will be the next one . if you have a splinter in your skin you need to pull it out if you don't want it to rock their politics and the arts don't go together in this way is such a pressurized an artist's trying to control them is totally wrong. meanwhile

actors prefer the stage of one of george's oldest theaters but without an artistic director to guide them. the international shakespeare society ranks robert stewart as london production of hamlet as one of the ten best productions in the past fifty years. i lost my job at twenty at the judge in fisa and george and don says it's. that's what makes our country popular in the wild west as she steals my cherished hope is to see everything change for the better. actors at the. theater still perform vintage plays in front of a full house every day. but at the same time a world renowned georgian director cannot work in his home country. store a can now only see his own productions as a regular theatregoer rather than as its leading long.

the arab league is deciding in the future. syria. criticism from the syrian opposition. on whether the country should join the e.u. . protests. continues to be shaken by. people in romania rising up against. this week. nuclear program.

on iranian oil. and the. suspension of. headlines. today this is the weekly with me. i will start with. will continue its work to help. the. country in the latest fourteen were killed when a police transporting prisoners was in the north west.