The Vaso Abashidze Theatre in Tbilisi’s Marjanishvili district staged a powerful protest performance on the evening of January 23, the 57^th consecutive day of Georgia’s ongoing anti-government, pro-EU civil resistance movement.

Through a series of poignant speeches, emotional spoken word pieces and choreographed dance numbers, actors, artists and directors in bright costumes presented their new protest manifesto, titled “This country is mine!”, to cheering crowds filling the wide street in front of the theatre building.

From a brightly lit stage the troupe announced a plan to tour Georgia’s regions, engage directly with the public and confront mounting propaganda and repression by the contested Georgian Dream (GD) government.

“We will travel to the provinces, be everywhere, talk to everyone, and let them [the authorities] try to catch us … you will see what the theatre can do … Everyone will join us,” Davit Doiashvili, artistic director of the Vaso Abashidze Theatre, told the crowd, who appeared moved and inspired by the actors’ defiant performance.

The show, which lasted several hours, was a rare instance of coordination and concrete, organised action in Georgia’s latest wave of dissent, which looks on the verge of stalling as protesters battle an ever more hostile environment of arrests, attacks and crackdowns by increasingly authoritarian Georgian Dream party.

“When the lights go out in the country, the stage lights up,” Doiashvili said on the eve of the performance.

Thousands of demonstrators in the Georgian capital have taken to the streets for over 55 consecutive nights in a display of commitment to their country’s Euro-Atlantic integration and opposition to a return to Russia’s sphere of influence.

Unrest broke out following the disputed parliamentary election of October 26, which GD is widely accused of rigging, and intensified on November 28 following an announcement by the newly re-formed GD government that Georgia would be suspending its EU membership bid until 2028.

The Vaso Abashidze Theatre has been on strike for over 50 days in solidarity with 28-year-old resident actor, Andro Chichinadze, who was one of hundreds arrested in early December during brutal police crackdowns pro-EU street protests.

Chichinadze, who is being held on criminal charges of “participating in group violence” and faces up to six years in prison, was remanded in custody during a pre-trial hearing on January 10 along with 10 others. According to his colleagues at the Vaso Abashidze Theatre, Chichinadze was “unlawfully detained by the [GD] regime without evidence”.

A banner displaying a photo of the imprisoned actor has hung from the roof of the theatre building for over 50 days and was joined on the evening of the protest performance by huge Georgian and EU flags.

At one particularly moving stage in the performance, artists read out the names of all those detained at protests who are now in pre-trail detention. “Along with these [illegally detained] people, Georgian culture is also imprisoned … that is why we are gathering again today in front of this theatre, again in this city,” Doiashvili told the thousands who gathered outside the theatre.

On January 11, members of the Vaso Abashidze Theatre demanded the release of both Chichinadze and others by January 20, warning that, if ignored, they would “move from passive resistance to action” and demonstrate “the true power of art in reality”.

Over 50 individuals, which protesters are calling “prisoners of the regime”, face criminal charges and severe sentences.

“The deadline for our ultimatum has passed – a new wave of large-scale protests against the regime begins now,” Doiashvili declared on January 22.

“Standing here was not our choice. We did everything we could to open a dialogue with the prosecutor’s office, but the prosecutor didn’t notice,” the theatre director told crowds during the protest performance.

Once the actors had left the stage, the thousands of spectating demonstrators marched across the river to Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue and took up their usual protest post outside the parliament building.