Bulgarian Theatre in the postkommunism sociaty (original) (raw)

The Reality Bites of New Bulgarian Theatre

The article introduces a recent phenomena in Bulgarian theater, the simultaneous emergence of several artistic groups devoted to tackling contemporary realities through documentary and verbatim theater esthetics.

Traces of Theatrical Seduction, A Case Study of (Post)Socialist Theatre: Mladinsko 1980-2005

A Chapter from the Book: Has the Future Already Arrived?, Mladinsko Theatre 1955-2005., Edited by Tomaž Toporišič and all., 2006

It was 1980. With the performance of Missa in a minor by Ljubiša Ristić, the Mladinsko flashed like a comet in the Ljubljana sky and, over the following seasons, evolved into a theatrical organism which shone first in the space of Slovenia, then across those of the other former Yugoslav republics and finally on the stages of Europe.

The New Theatre of the New Artists Group and the Russian Avant-Garde

Art & Culture Studies

The multimedia practice of the Russian Avant-Garde, in which theatrical art is inseparable from literary, visual and musical art, found its continuation half a century later in the work of the New Artists group, founded by Timur Novikov in 1982 in Leningrad. This article is the first study of the so-called New Theatre of the New Artists, which is associated with the following happenings or performances: The Ballet of the Three Inseparables, Anna Karenina, The Idiot, and their predecessor, the literary-noise action The Medical Concert. The article discusses three elements of the avant-garde theatrical tradition that resonate with the New Theatre: Nikolai Evreinov’s comprehensive concept of the “theatre for oneself”, the musical-spatial theatrical experiments of Mikhail Matyushin and his followers, and the absurdist theatre of Daniil Kharms and OBERIU. The second and third, despite being so dissimilar to each other, share the borderline, where zaum (alogism) and absurdism converge. Th...

Иван Пенков като сценограф в Народния театър и театър „Студия“ през 20-те години на ХХ век, Проблеми на изкуството, БАН, София, 1, 2016 (Ivan Penkov as a Stage Designer at National Theatre and Theatre Studia in the 1920s, Institute of Art Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1, 2016)

This article is an in-depth study of an understudied aspect of the artistic output of eminent Bulgarian painter Ivan Penkov (1897–1957), i.e. his work as a designer of theatrical scenery and costumes at the National Theater and Theater Studia in the 1920s in Sofia. My work on this aspect of his oeuvre and career included research conducted in museums and art galleries across Bulgaria such as the National Art Gallery, Sofia Art Gallery, Kazanluk Art Gallery and Stara Zagora Art Gallery as well as a number of private collections and archives, mostly the painter’s archive kept by his heirs and that of the National Theater. In this context, the archive of Chrisan Tsankov, kept at the Central State Archives, is of paramount significance providing a number of documents, sketches of sets, reviews and photos of performances designed by Ivan Penkov. The work of Ivan Penkov at these two Sofia theaters is treated in this article as closely related to the innovative processes within the 1920s Bulgarian theater, influenced by advanced European theaters and mostly, by the innovative ideas of Reinhard and Meyerhold. Graduating from the Royal Academy of Arts in Munich, Ivan Penkov was very well acquainted with the existing art trends in drama. Thus, what is witnessed in the 1920s scenographic work of Ivan Penkov is on the one hand interweaving of Symbolist concepts with the concepts of Secession and on the other hand, expression of constructive scenographic solutions and artistic laconism, while in the late 1920s, the decorative stylized trends subsided gradually in his work as a whole and in his scenographic solutions in particular. In the 1930s, Constructivism got the upper hand and prevailed as an art movement in the scenographic work of Ivan Penkov.

Russian Theatre: from crisis to recovery

Meanjin, 1994

On 14 April 1993, the day I landed in Moscow, it was snowing. 'The spring is late this year,' said Zhenia, the final-year literature student at Moscow State University who had come to meet me at the airport. It snowed for the next three days. The snow was soft and soon melted, leaving puddles and sticky mud on the potholed streets of Moscow. This was not the best time to come to Moscow. The grand Soviet capital of the past looked like an old, unkempt metropolis trying desperately to show some tiny signs of rejuvenation. Next day I went to Yuri Lyubimov's Taganka Theatre to, buy tickets for the coming shows. An old lady at the box-office looked at me and said, 'All plays for the week have been cancelled.' When I asked her why, she shook her head, and, guessing that I was a foreigner, smiled and replied, 'Yuri Lyubimov arrived last night from Israel and the troupe is rehearsing Dr Zhivago - its new play. After a week the troupe is flying off to Europe for the premiere.'

Socialist realism in the Bulgarian National Theatre's Stage design: processes, influences, concepts

Theatralia, 2018

Set design in Bulgarian theatre history is a field full of questions. There is only one published piece of research which had the aim to cover the processes in to the scenography from the first professional theatre company (at the end of 19 th century) until the mid 70's of the 20 th century. The biggest problem in this study is the fact that it was written during the Communist regime, so it's hard to be taken as a solid base for contemporary analysis of the theatre situation. Nevertheless, as the only book about the history of set design in Bulgaria, even if it is full of ideological propaganda, it is still used by researchers as a reference. This article is a part of a bigger research project which has the aim of clarifying the process of development of Bulgarian scenography as well as the personal art styles of the different generations of set designers from a contemporary point of view. The crucial points integrated into the research are the political changes which start with the Communist coup in 1944 and completely transformed not only the socio-political life, but also the artistic one. The National Theatre was a scene of the unfolding of the most important and essential developments of theatre processes. Amongst these, the establishment of Socialist Realism was a milestone that marked the changing of aesthetics. Achieving it onstage both thematically and in each of the elements of a production became the task of and a challenge to the National Theatre. In this paper I will focus on several examples from theatre history to show how the standards of Socialist Realism have transformed set design aesthetics.

From political theater in Yugoslav socialism to political performance in global capitalism: the case of Slovenian Mladinsko Theater (pre-published manuscript)

European Review , 2016

Political theater is a trend that, during the avant-garde 1920s, emerged at the intersection of efforts to liberate artistic forms and oppressed groups in society. It was an influence on Slovenian theatrical artists at the Workers’ Stage (Delavski oder) already in the interwar period. A trend towards “political theater,” one of the tendencies of politicized performing arts in the period, flourished in Slovenia and other republics of the former Yugoslavia in the 1980s. On the background of an identity crisis of the Yugoslav state and its ideology, political theater addressed great stories of History and the Revolution in a post-avant-garde manner. During the transition, political theater initially lost its edge but was reborn in the 21st century. As a post-dramatic practice associated with performance, it now parses its own politics. It is a forum for critiquing small, local stories that nonetheless evince the contradictions of a peripheral nation-state in the era of transnational late capitalism.