After the protest, scandals and violence that broke out last night, the play "The Weapons and the Man", directed by John Mlakovich, was still played in the "Ivan Vazov" National Theater, and only a few people, such as the audience and representatives of the media, were able to enter the hall, BTA reported.
The performance went smoothly, without tension in the theater hall.
Before that, disgruntled citizens gathered in front of the National Theater to demand that the play be removed from the theater's poster.
The performance started shortly after 8:00 PM with an almost empty hall. The starting time was announced at 19:00. The director of the theater, Vasil Vassilev, admitted the media to the production in order to reflect what it presents. Before the start of the premiere, the security of the theater tried to organize a cordon for the spectators who had tickets, but the protesters did not allow them to enter.
At the beginning of the protest, the dissatisfied announced that they would also demand the resignation of the director of the theater. He subsequently attempted to come out to speak to the crowd, but was physically assaulted by some of them. Subsequently, Vassilev was taken back to the theater building by security without being injured.
Part of the protesters later managed to enter the theater building and tried to break in, but were stopped by security because of their aggressive behavior.
We did not allow them to desecrate the National Theater, to throw eggs at it, said director Vasil Vassilev in a discussion with the audience after the premiere. Today we showed what our profession is. I apologize once again, what depended on us we certainly did, he added.
„I staged this play on Broadway in 1985 and last year during the tour of “In the Cotton Fields” I was asked if I would direct a play in Bulgaria, and since this play is set in Bulgaria, I offered it. "I think it's a charming and funny play," said director John Malkovich.
He added that some time ago he directed “Leopolstadt“ in Riga, where a large part of the Jewish community had been massacred nearby, and he never thought that anyone could be offended by the play as it was here. According to Malkovich, putting on the play was not difficult because the cast was great.
What happened outside before the premiere did not surprise us. I think it's very good what happened because that's the reality we live in. We are capable of judging something before we have seen it, we are capable of denying things that were written more than 100 years ago, commented the actor Plamen Dimov.
In front of the audience, the actress Irina Miteva, one of the participants in the play, said that iconic Bulgarian actors were hit and kicked in front of the theater. She clarified that they were not part of this production.
If there are no arrests after what happened in front of the National Theater, such outrages will become a daily occurrence. This is stated in his Facebook profile by Miroslav Borsosh, chairman of the culture and education committee of the Metropolitan Municipal Council.
As the chairman of the committee on culture in the Metropolitan City Council, I call on the Ministry of the Interior to conduct an immediate investigation of the culprits who endangered the safety and health of the spectators, Borsosh points out. According to him, the Ministry of the Interior should take stock of whether it successfully ensured both the peace of citizens and access to the theater.
We strongly condemn all forms of censorship of freedom of speech and art and attempts to prevent the audience from entering the theater, GERB wrote on their Facebook profile on the occasion of the protest against the production.
Theater by definition is drama and provocation, the party added. “The Bulgarian viewer is intelligent enough to appreciate the content and form of the theatrical challenge, and it is not permissible to interfere with his right to judgement. Especially when this is accompanied by an attack on the National Theater and the right of its guests to be spectators”, GERB also writes and adds that the formation stands on the side of art, culture and pluralism.
The time of forbidden performances and works of art has not existed for 34 years, and our commitment as a political force is to ensure that it does not return, adds GERB.
The pogrom that is happening in front of the National Theater is an attack on freedom of speech, art and the free creative spirit, they wrote on their Facebook page from "Continuing the Change".
"The National Theater has been the object of encroachments for a long time and clearly - one of the main goals of the pseudo-patriotic forces that want Bulgaria to go back 60 years.
For us, the attack on the National Theater "Ivan Vazov" is not a spontaneous protest, but an active event organized by people close to the alleged former State Security," they write on their page.