Director Boyko Iliev sent an open letter to the Minister of Culture Evtim Miloshev and to the Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Media in the National Assembly Anton Kutev, in which he was outraged by the performance of Theater 199 "Like in the best days" by the Italian playwright Diego Pleuteri, telling about a love affair between two young men, writes hotarena.net.
Iliev criticizes most of all the fact that Mariy Rosen's production, which, according to him, is not in contradiction with traditional Christian and family values, is presented on stage without a designated age limit and in the usual time zone like all other titles from the repertoire.
„I believe that the presentation of same-sex love as an illustration of the universal theme of love represents an ideological redefinition of human nature, and not a deepening of the understanding of it in the sense of classical aesthetics“, he also writes.
„I consider the appearance of such titles in a central, prestigious theater like Theater 199 to be inconsistent with Bulgarian historical, moral and Orthodox traditions and the values associated with family“, points out Iliev, who is the father of actor and director Niki Iliev. He also raises the topic of state subsidies for such productions.
„Theater 199 is a state cultural institute, subsidized by the budget. According to Art. 2 of the Law on the Protection and Development of Culture, the state cultural policy is aimed at „preservation and enrichment of the cultural and historical heritage, preservation of the Bulgarian literary language, traditions and customs“ etc. In this regard, he believes that there is no Act on the Performing Arts, and the last one was from 1947, which would regulate the role of „affirmation of moral values and national ideals“ of art and to introduce clear criteria for designating performances with a specific theme.
For his part, actor Sevar Ivanov, who plays one of the main roles, is surprised that the production has evoked such feelings in Iliev.
„This is the first time I have a nude scene. So far, every time I've been stripped to the waist, down to my underwear. People probably imagine a scene in an intimate setting, but no - it's anything but that. None of us felt humiliated or used in any way through this nude scene“, says Sevar, adding that the production is actually a comedy, the focus of which is not the love story, but all the “important things in life“. „Sexual orientation is not something that is conveyed in art. So it's not shameful to like something that is for or made by people who are different from you“, the actor further explains.
Boyko Iliev's position was supported by many artists, including Iren Krivoshieva, who wrote under his Facebook post: “I support and admire what Boyko Iliev wrote. We all need to stand up in defense of morality, against the vulgarity in art in recent times“. But there were also many other opinions: “Svejk once spoke of his surprise that supposedly they didn't take people with narrow chests into the army, and the army was full of narrow-chested people – writes Vladi Mihaylov. – Well, apparently the theater has already been affected. This signal is very similar to something written in our recent past – with an eye to the bright future. It was called snitching and for me it is shameful and undignified“.
„How nice it is when a director discovers his inner censor – apparently the next production will be „Morals and Order“ with the artistic director of the Decency Commission“, Deyan Rusev believes.
„When will we write to ban listening to „The Beatles“, jeans and wearing long hair?“, ironically Igor Damyanov.