Seminário Internacional de Jovens Críticos de Teatro (XII)
Apresenta-se hoje a primeira de duas comunicações sobre o contexto teatral na Bulgária. O texto vai assinado por MILENA MIHAYLOVA
What is the present theatre situation in Bulgaria?
In order to answer this question it is necessary first to trace back in short the course of the Bulgarian theatre after the political changes in Bulgaria (as well as in other Eastern-Europian countries) in 1989. The replacement of the communist system with a capitalism of the society causes a new socio-cultural situation without which the face of the present Bulgarian theatre wouldn't have been the same. In this socio-cultural situation instead of reticence and ideological oppression before the transition begin realizing the reverie for freedom of the Bulgarian theatre workers and of the whole society.
And our theatre directors, already free/unrestricted, embark eagerly to catch up on the things which were missed, forbidden, read in secret but not experienced before both emblematical for the modernistic Europian theatre texts (Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, Georges Bataille, Harold Pinter, etc.) and new for the Bulgarian theatre practice forms for the stage (multimedia performances, dance theatre, gesture/body theatre, one-man show, etc.). Many directors have been interested most in the Absurd dramaturgy after the political changes in Bulgaria. The director Leon Daniel made the first step and produced "Waiting for Godot" one year before the social transition (1988).
The theoretical works of Michael Chekhov, Eugenio Barba, Jerzy Grotowski, etc. which were difficult of access for our theatre workers in the past (rare editions, written only in foreign languages) after 1989 found Bulgarian followers as well. During the 90-ies of the 20th century are created two Laboratory Theatres in Bulgaria - "Sfumato" Theatre Workshop (of the directors Margarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobchev) and The Educational Theatre of Vazkresia Viharova. Their mutual interest in the theatrical anthropology/anthropological theatre divides itself gradually in two different directions :
- "Sfumato"- theatre seen through the archetypes of Jung. This theatre works in long-termed programs aimed to approach the poetics of a text or an author through several performances. This author at the present is Dostoievsky.
- Viharova - mixing of the anthropological theatre with the gesture/body theatre, for example - the long-termed research program "Customs" which is continuing to develop itself today as well.
The long accumulated thirst for authorship of the Bulgarian directors, for their striving for being absolutely free homo ludens provokes some of them to distract themselves from the traditional for Bulgaria psychological theatre in the way of Stanislavsky, increasing their own interests in the theatrical views of Vachtangov, Meyerhold.
The play for the directors Alexander Morfov and Stefan Moskov for example is just one of the means of expression in the theatre. It is the base from which a great number of improvisations and interpretations are born, collage of quotations in which creation the actors themselves are the authors as well. Their performances offer spectacular theatrical way of play, social sting, irony : "The Tempest" (after William Shakespeare), "At the Bottom" (authorized director's collage after motives from M. Gorky's play, miniatures by Daniel Harms, riddles from Zen-buddhism and other improvisations), "Decameron, or Blood and Passion" (after Boccaccio) - director Alexander Morfov; "The Commedy of Servants" after "A Servant to two Masters" (Goldoni), "Don Juan" (Moliere) and "Don Quixote" (Cervantes), "The Master and Margarita" (after Mihail Bulgakov), "Phantasmagoria" (a free adaptation after the tale of E. T. A. Hoffmann "Little Zaches", called "Cinnabar") - director Stefan Moskov. Let's include the director Lilia Abadjieva in this more free interpreting of classical titles. In her performances after Shakespeare for example (coming premiere after "Othello") only men are playing as were performed the English classic's plays in the Renaissance.
Choosing classical/contemporary plays and their social analysis from the position of the time today, going deep into the philosophical sense of the respective play/character, the confidence in the play-writer distinguishes another group Bulgarian directors. Leon Daniel - one of the mature and still active directors of Bulgaria is leading name in this type of theatre (last performance "The Visit of the Old Lady" by Durrenmatt).
I discover similar approach, of course with its individual activities, new directions in the works of the following directors:
- Krikor Azaryan (interested in the outsiders of every system, in the Balkan's destiny , master mixing of the tragic and the comic in his performances);
- Krasimir Spasov (analytical thoroughness, passion for the literary theatre);
- Nikolay Lambrev (examines the crisis of man in his battle with the dependence on the social machine, the man - lonely in the delicacy of his own imperfection and in the reality around him, social sorrow of the director's message);
- Plamen Markov (realistic authenticity, civil engagement).
The same I discover and in the works of younger directors as Galin Stoev who combines psychology with improvisation and alienation, saturation of the tradition with actual sounding, and Javor Gardev who produces lately intellectual and too social performances such as "Marat/Sade" by Peter Weiss.
The different directors' approaches above describe the image of a theatre with creators of performances with original and contemporary conception of the world, vigilant and inventive with their bright individuality creators with open mind for the world cultural heritage.
The Bulgarian theatre is not accidentally directors' theatre. They are personalities with lively actor's individualities as well, absolute "masters of the meanings" in their own performances. Their postmodernist creative attitude serves their aspiration to discover actual, social, pure Bulgarian or universal messages but messages necessarily addressed to the today's public , because as Brecht writes in his "Little Organon for the Theatre": "Theatre must maintain bravely the interests of its own time".
Mentioning the term "postmodernism" there is no other way but to draw attention to the fact that OUR Time... but this is the today's Europian/World Time can not give a birth yet to a new powerful drama pattern like Ibsen, A. P. Chekhov, Beckett. At one moment it became clear that all of us live in postmodernist world inhibited with great number of traditions where it is possible some small pieces of "Chekhov" to be combined peacefully with some small pieces of "Shakespeare", etc.
And again contemporary plays like "4:48 Psychosis" by Sarah Kane or "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard provoke us to talk about Ionesco, about "stream of consciousness" or about "Romanticism", "Enlightenment", etc. At the same time Bulgarian play as "The Colonet-Bird" by Hristo Boychev attracts the attention of theatrical London with its "exotic" story about the dreams, aspirations for new life of the Bulgarians/the Balkan people. The performances of the Bulgarian directors Morfov/Moskov - postmodern theatre par excellence - excite more and more theatre makers and public in Germany, Russia, France. Theatre Laboratory "Sfumato" is frequent guest on the theatre festival in Avignon. The plays of the Bulgarian classics Yordan Radichkov and Stanislav Stratiev are translated and produced in more than thirty countries. I.e. the Bulgarian theatre is experiencing with delay the modernistic period of the European theatre on the 20th century and at the same time it is entering in one postmodernist European socio-cultural context.
Few original and unexpected in their creative approach contemporary plays appear lately in Bulgaria. The reason may be in that the hard years of changes in Bulgaria continue at that moment, too. Our play-writers and all Bulgarians as well are participants in these changes. But it is very difficult a man to alienate himself and to analyze indifferently the fire in his own house, isn't it? Because of that the Bulgarian directors became discoverers of new foreign authors to be produced on Bulgarian stage - Yasmina Reza, Martin McDonagh, Eric-Emanuel Schmidt, etc. In the Bulgarian magazine "Panorama" were translated/published great number of contemporary English, French and German plays. Among the most interesting scene achievements are "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard, "Archaeology of Dreaming" after Ivan Viripaev's play "Dreams" - director Galin Stoev; "Fireface" by Marius von Meyenburg, "A Hotel between Earth and Heaven" by Eric-Emanuel Schmidt - director Nikolay Lambrev; "The breath of life" by David Hare, director Margarita Mladenova; "The Pillowman" by Martin McDonagh, director Javor Gardev, etc.
I would like to add to this list two classical Bulgarian plays as well with which was opened the present theatrical season in the National Theatre of Bulgaria.
This year "Ivan Vazov" National Theatre celebrates its 100 anniversary! - "Lazaritsa" by Yordan Radichkov, director Krikor Azaryan "Hushove-Strangers" by Ivan Vazov, director Alexander Morfov. In this theatre itself rise some of the most talented actors of Bulgaria. Its First and Second generation of Bulgarian actors were educated from famous Schools in Russia, Germany, Austria, France and after that brought the collected knowledge and experience to our stage.
At this present moment the Bulgarian theatre is active, vigilant and open for dialog with the theatrical treasures/richness of the world. The varied interests of the Bulgarian directors turn it in a theatre with personal dreams, aspirations, expectations. UNRESTRICTED and FREE THEATRE!
Contacto: milenikos@abv.bg
MILENA MIHAYLOVA exerce, actualmente, crítica de teatro nos jornais búlgaros HOMO LUDENS, THEATRE e LITERARY NEWSPAPER. É ainda responsável pelo departamento de comunicação do Festival Varna Summer
Apresenta-se hoje a primeira de duas comunicações sobre o contexto teatral na Bulgária. O texto vai assinado por MILENA MIHAYLOVA
What is the present theatre situation in Bulgaria?
In order to answer this question it is necessary first to trace back in short the course of the Bulgarian theatre after the political changes in Bulgaria (as well as in other Eastern-Europian countries) in 1989. The replacement of the communist system with a capitalism of the society causes a new socio-cultural situation without which the face of the present Bulgarian theatre wouldn't have been the same. In this socio-cultural situation instead of reticence and ideological oppression before the transition begin realizing the reverie for freedom of the Bulgarian theatre workers and of the whole society.
And our theatre directors, already free/unrestricted, embark eagerly to catch up on the things which were missed, forbidden, read in secret but not experienced before both emblematical for the modernistic Europian theatre texts (Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, Georges Bataille, Harold Pinter, etc.) and new for the Bulgarian theatre practice forms for the stage (multimedia performances, dance theatre, gesture/body theatre, one-man show, etc.). Many directors have been interested most in the Absurd dramaturgy after the political changes in Bulgaria. The director Leon Daniel made the first step and produced "Waiting for Godot" one year before the social transition (1988).
The theoretical works of Michael Chekhov, Eugenio Barba, Jerzy Grotowski, etc. which were difficult of access for our theatre workers in the past (rare editions, written only in foreign languages) after 1989 found Bulgarian followers as well. During the 90-ies of the 20th century are created two Laboratory Theatres in Bulgaria - "Sfumato" Theatre Workshop (of the directors Margarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobchev) and The Educational Theatre of Vazkresia Viharova. Their mutual interest in the theatrical anthropology/anthropological theatre divides itself gradually in two different directions :
- "Sfumato"- theatre seen through the archetypes of Jung. This theatre works in long-termed programs aimed to approach the poetics of a text or an author through several performances. This author at the present is Dostoievsky.
- Viharova - mixing of the anthropological theatre with the gesture/body theatre, for example - the long-termed research program "Customs" which is continuing to develop itself today as well.
The long accumulated thirst for authorship of the Bulgarian directors, for their striving for being absolutely free homo ludens provokes some of them to distract themselves from the traditional for Bulgaria psychological theatre in the way of Stanislavsky, increasing their own interests in the theatrical views of Vachtangov, Meyerhold.
The play for the directors Alexander Morfov and Stefan Moskov for example is just one of the means of expression in the theatre. It is the base from which a great number of improvisations and interpretations are born, collage of quotations in which creation the actors themselves are the authors as well. Their performances offer spectacular theatrical way of play, social sting, irony : "The Tempest" (after William Shakespeare), "At the Bottom" (authorized director's collage after motives from M. Gorky's play, miniatures by Daniel Harms, riddles from Zen-buddhism and other improvisations), "Decameron, or Blood and Passion" (after Boccaccio) - director Alexander Morfov; "The Commedy of Servants" after "A Servant to two Masters" (Goldoni), "Don Juan" (Moliere) and "Don Quixote" (Cervantes), "The Master and Margarita" (after Mihail Bulgakov), "Phantasmagoria" (a free adaptation after the tale of E. T. A. Hoffmann "Little Zaches", called "Cinnabar") - director Stefan Moskov. Let's include the director Lilia Abadjieva in this more free interpreting of classical titles. In her performances after Shakespeare for example (coming premiere after "Othello") only men are playing as were performed the English classic's plays in the Renaissance.
Choosing classical/contemporary plays and their social analysis from the position of the time today, going deep into the philosophical sense of the respective play/character, the confidence in the play-writer distinguishes another group Bulgarian directors. Leon Daniel - one of the mature and still active directors of Bulgaria is leading name in this type of theatre (last performance "The Visit of the Old Lady" by Durrenmatt).
I discover similar approach, of course with its individual activities, new directions in the works of the following directors:
- Krikor Azaryan (interested in the outsiders of every system, in the Balkan's destiny , master mixing of the tragic and the comic in his performances);
- Krasimir Spasov (analytical thoroughness, passion for the literary theatre);
- Nikolay Lambrev (examines the crisis of man in his battle with the dependence on the social machine, the man - lonely in the delicacy of his own imperfection and in the reality around him, social sorrow of the director's message);
- Plamen Markov (realistic authenticity, civil engagement).
The same I discover and in the works of younger directors as Galin Stoev who combines psychology with improvisation and alienation, saturation of the tradition with actual sounding, and Javor Gardev who produces lately intellectual and too social performances such as "Marat/Sade" by Peter Weiss.
The different directors' approaches above describe the image of a theatre with creators of performances with original and contemporary conception of the world, vigilant and inventive with their bright individuality creators with open mind for the world cultural heritage.
The Bulgarian theatre is not accidentally directors' theatre. They are personalities with lively actor's individualities as well, absolute "masters of the meanings" in their own performances. Their postmodernist creative attitude serves their aspiration to discover actual, social, pure Bulgarian or universal messages but messages necessarily addressed to the today's public , because as Brecht writes in his "Little Organon for the Theatre": "Theatre must maintain bravely the interests of its own time".
Mentioning the term "postmodernism" there is no other way but to draw attention to the fact that OUR Time... but this is the today's Europian/World Time can not give a birth yet to a new powerful drama pattern like Ibsen, A. P. Chekhov, Beckett. At one moment it became clear that all of us live in postmodernist world inhibited with great number of traditions where it is possible some small pieces of "Chekhov" to be combined peacefully with some small pieces of "Shakespeare", etc.
And again contemporary plays like "4:48 Psychosis" by Sarah Kane or "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard provoke us to talk about Ionesco, about "stream of consciousness" or about "Romanticism", "Enlightenment", etc. At the same time Bulgarian play as "The Colonet-Bird" by Hristo Boychev attracts the attention of theatrical London with its "exotic" story about the dreams, aspirations for new life of the Bulgarians/the Balkan people. The performances of the Bulgarian directors Morfov/Moskov - postmodern theatre par excellence - excite more and more theatre makers and public in Germany, Russia, France. Theatre Laboratory "Sfumato" is frequent guest on the theatre festival in Avignon. The plays of the Bulgarian classics Yordan Radichkov and Stanislav Stratiev are translated and produced in more than thirty countries. I.e. the Bulgarian theatre is experiencing with delay the modernistic period of the European theatre on the 20th century and at the same time it is entering in one postmodernist European socio-cultural context.
Few original and unexpected in their creative approach contemporary plays appear lately in Bulgaria. The reason may be in that the hard years of changes in Bulgaria continue at that moment, too. Our play-writers and all Bulgarians as well are participants in these changes. But it is very difficult a man to alienate himself and to analyze indifferently the fire in his own house, isn't it? Because of that the Bulgarian directors became discoverers of new foreign authors to be produced on Bulgarian stage - Yasmina Reza, Martin McDonagh, Eric-Emanuel Schmidt, etc. In the Bulgarian magazine "Panorama" were translated/published great number of contemporary English, French and German plays. Among the most interesting scene achievements are "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard, "Archaeology of Dreaming" after Ivan Viripaev's play "Dreams" - director Galin Stoev; "Fireface" by Marius von Meyenburg, "A Hotel between Earth and Heaven" by Eric-Emanuel Schmidt - director Nikolay Lambrev; "The breath of life" by David Hare, director Margarita Mladenova; "The Pillowman" by Martin McDonagh, director Javor Gardev, etc.
I would like to add to this list two classical Bulgarian plays as well with which was opened the present theatrical season in the National Theatre of Bulgaria.
This year "Ivan Vazov" National Theatre celebrates its 100 anniversary! - "Lazaritsa" by Yordan Radichkov, director Krikor Azaryan "Hushove-Strangers" by Ivan Vazov, director Alexander Morfov. In this theatre itself rise some of the most talented actors of Bulgaria. Its First and Second generation of Bulgarian actors were educated from famous Schools in Russia, Germany, Austria, France and after that brought the collected knowledge and experience to our stage.
At this present moment the Bulgarian theatre is active, vigilant and open for dialog with the theatrical treasures/richness of the world. The varied interests of the Bulgarian directors turn it in a theatre with personal dreams, aspirations, expectations. UNRESTRICTED and FREE THEATRE!
Contacto: milenikos@abv.bg
MILENA MIHAYLOVA exerce, actualmente, crítica de teatro nos jornais búlgaros HOMO LUDENS, THEATRE e LITERARY NEWSPAPER. É ainda responsável pelo departamento de comunicação do Festival Varna Summer
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