The storm

By William Shakespeare

Translator: Valery Petrov

Company name: Ivan Vazov National Theatre

Company country: Bulgaria

Director: Robert Wilson

Distribution:

Veselin Mezekliev – PROSPERO, Righteous Duke of Milan

Radina Borshosh - MIRANDA, Prospero's daughter

Zhaklin Daskalova – ARIEL, a spirit in the service of Prospero

Yavor Valkanov – CALIBAN, inhabitant of the island

Stoyan Pepelanov – ALONSO, King of Naples

Stelian Radev – FERDINAND, his son

Valentin Ganev – GONZALO, Alonso's old advisor

Zafir Radjab – SEBASTIAN, Alonso's brother

Konstantin Elenkov – ANTONIO, Prospero's brother and usurper Duke of Milan

Stefan Kashev – TRINCULO, a clown, Alonso's servant

Vasil Draganov – STEPHANO, Alonso's butler

Nencho Kostov – SERVANT/SPIRIT/DOG

Gergana Zmiicharova – SPIRIT/IRIS

Vyara Tabakova – SPIRIT/HEAVEN

Vladislava Nikolova – SPIRIT/JUNO

 

The creative team:

Direction/Scenography/Lighting Design: Robert Wilson

Co-director: Ann-Christin Rommen

Costume/Hair/Makeup Designer: Yashi

Lighting co-designer: Marcello Lumaca, Cristian-Petru Simon

Playwright: Jutta Ferbers

Co-designer scenography: Marie de Testa

Sound designer: Dario Felli

Assistant directors: Irina Ivanova, Iva Manolova, Alexander Asparuhov, Boiana Buchvarova

Assistant directors & translators: Plamen Harmandjiev, Luba Todorova

Scenography assistants: Boiana Buchvarova, Emona Stoikova

Costume/Makeup Design Assistant: Nikol Mechkarska

In-house playwright: Svetlana Pancheva

In-house technical director: Tanya Dimitrova

Light console operators: Ilya Pashnin, Mariana Hlebnikova

Stage manager: Marin Kechidjiev

Technical sound director: Julian Stoychkov

Sound engineer: Boris Nenov

Head of costume department: Tsetska Ivaylova

Head of make-up department: Rozalina Peicheva

Wigs made by Manu Halligan, Ivanka Georgieva

The costumes, props and sets were made at NT's in-house workshops

Photo by Gergana Damianova

Poster and notebook design: Yanina Petrova

Robert Wilson's Personal Assistant: Nelson Gellrich

 

Show synopsis:

Robert Wilson's main trademark is his control over light, which he uses in drawing theatrical canvases. The production of "Storms", made with the National Theater troupe, represents the latest demonstration of this approach. In his interpretation, Shakespeare's work is transformed into an extraordinary fairy tale, depicted with the help of elaborate sound design, impressive visuals, stylized stage movement and humor.

 

Nominations and/or show awards:

Icarus Award in 2022 for Best Show

 

Company description:

The inauguration of the oldest professional theater in Bulgaria takes place in 1904, when the first professional troupe "Tear and Laughter" was officially established as the Bulgarian National Theatre. It pays increased attention to the development of national dramaturgy, while opening its 3 stages to a multitude of innovative initiatives. The theater building was made by the famous Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who also created other theater buildings in Vienna, Odessa, Zagreb, Prague or other European cities that became famous cultural landmarks over time.

The theater has a fully equipped main hall with 780 seats, an average hall with 135 seats, the "Apostol Karamitev" hall with 90 seats and the "Muses" hall with 50 seats. More than 600 performances and 10 premieres take place in a theatrical season (the 2022/2023 season had 12 premieres). The repertoire of the theater includes about 60 titles that attract the interest of almost 150,000 spectators annually.

 

Director biography:

Born in Waco, Texas, Robert Wilson is one of the world's leading theater and visual artists. His stage works unconventionally integrate various artistic mediums such as dance, movement, light, sculpture, music and text. The images he creates have a striking and emotionally charged aesthetic, and his productions have won the acclaim of critics and audiences around the world.

After graduating from the University of Texas and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Wilson founded the New York performance collective "The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds" in the mid-1960s and developed his first landmark creations, including Deafman Glance (1970) and A Letter for Queen Victoria (1974-1975). With Philip Glass he wrote the seminal work Einstein on the Beach (1976).

Wilson's artistic collaborators include writers or musicians such as Heiner Müller, Tom Waits, Susan Sontag, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Lou Reed, Jessye Norman and Anna Calvi. He left his mark on works such as Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, Brecht/Weill's Three Parallels Opera, Debussy's Pelléas and Melisande, Goethe's Faust, Homer's Odyssey, Jean de la Fontaine's Fables, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, La Traviata by Verdi, and Oedipus by Sophocles. Wilson is the founder and artistic director of the Watermill Center, an arts laboratory in Water Mill, New York.

Show duration: 1h 30 minutes (without break)