Theatre
Pepo
Պեպո
Gabriel Sundukian · 1871
Synopsis
In Tiflis, Kekel, the sister of the fisherman Pepo, is to be married, and the fiancé's family awaits the promised dowry. Pepo's father had entrusted this money to the rich moneylender Zimzimov, who denies the deposit: the acknowledgement of debt has been mislaid. Pepo, for whom a man's word is his honour, goes to claim what is owed him; Zimzimov has him thrown out and accuses him of trespass and assault.
Context
Sundukian wrote the play in 1870 and staged it himself: rehearsals began in March 1871 at Sofia Melik-Nazarian's, then at his own home, and he cast the roles himself, Gevorg Chmshkian taking the first. The day the poster went up, all the tickets were snapped up. The work has three acts, the first and last of which take place at the fisherman's house and the second at the merchant's, and the action is dated to the 1870s. The author later admitted having put himself into his hero and having given him retorts that he had flung at a real adversary. The Georgian revival followed in 1875.
Who it is for
A short comedy in three acts. It is written in the Armenian of Tiflis, full of Georgian and Turkish words, which accounts for half its flavour and is necessarily lost elsewhere.
Prizes and reception
A foundational play of modern Armenian theatre, brought to the screen in 1935 in the first Armenian sound film, whose songs have endured.