Aziz Rashidovich Agrba

Born June 2 (15), 1912. Soviet Abkhaz actor and theater director. People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR (1954). Studied under V. I. Domogarov’s direction (Sukhumi, 1930–33) and at the Abkhaz studio at the Rustaveli Georgian Theater (Tbilisi, 1936–38). Actor (1931–63) and chief stage director (1939–63) of the Abkhaz Theater in Sukhumi.

He created heroic roles (Seidyk in Lakerbai’s Danakai, Ananiia in Sumbatov-Iuzhin’s The Betrayal )and also brilliant satirical roles (Gatsky in Shavlokhov’s The Bridegroom, the town governor in Gogol’s Inspector General). He staged Shakespeare’s Othello (1941), Guliia’s Black Guests (1955), Pogodin’s Kremlin Chimes (1959), and other plays. He has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.