“Neo-Summerfolk” premieres on March, 23rd, 24th and 25th 19 March 2018
The production “Neo-Summerfolk” will give a completely new and different reading of Gorky. One of the most successful Bulgarian directors abroad – Ivan Panteleev, will put it on the Main Stage of the National Theatre “Ivan Vazov”. The production premieres on March 23rd, 24th and 25th.
The challenge of the project starts with the title, created in the rehearsal process. It gives a more specific look at the reality in Bulgaria. Ivan Panteleev hasn’t lived here for 20 years, and his interpretation of Gorky intertwines both the position on the world and life through the temperament of the characters and the reality here and now. Each character has its peculiarities that the director manages to remodel and through them to compose a play that includes both Gorky’s original text and personal thoughts and texts by Heiner Müller. Mixing of meanings and decisions on stage design makes the play very current and adequate to the time we live in. “Neo-Summerfolk” also breaks a lot of prejudices regarding Maxim Gorky.
Ivan Panteleev says that he chose Gorky because “it’s a play that has a lot in common with Bulgaria today” and it’s a text “specially chosen for my current meeting with these actors and it’s about the situation here as I feel it” (interview for “24 hours” newspaper, February 2018). The cast includes some of the most popular and favourite artists – Julian Vergov (as Bassov), Teodora Duhovnikova (as Maria), Hristo Petkov (as Vlass), Ivan Yurukov (as Suslov), Darin Angelov (as Zamislov), Deyan Angelov (as Sasha and Yasha), Rashko Mladenov (as Uncle Dvoetochie – pianist), Nikolay Urumov (as Ryumin), Radena Valkanova (as Varvara), Alexandra Vasileva (as Olga), Stefania Koleva (as Katerina) and Vladimir Karamazov (as Shalimov). Stage design and costumes by Milena Panteleeva, music by Rashko Mladenov. The next performances of “Neo-Summerfolk” are on April 3rd, 12th and 29th.