TABLE REHEARSALS HAVE BEGUN FOR "THE MAN-EATER" BY IVAN RADOEV

The "Ivan Radoev" Drama and Puppet Theatre dedicates this performance to the 30th anniversary of the death of the inimitable playwright and poet Ivan Radoev. The legendary play „The Man-Eater“, which has become an eternal emblem of Bulgarian theatre, will come alive again on the Pleven stage at the end of January 2024.

At the first table rehearsal, thirteen happy „little people“ gathered to blame, each as best they could, the state and not only it for all their woes, because „The people are nervous, comrades!“.

„The whole story unfolds in the small galaxy of an old people’s home… here the chairs are tired, the table is tired. The television is also tired and for two years has maintained no relations with the political commentators“ - is this not enough for a total and absurd comedy that will look us straight in the eye from the stage of the Pleven theatre?

Director - Orhan Tair; set designer - Larisa Nagorska; music - Asen Antonov

Cast: Bistra Okereke, Elitsa Aneva, Genadiy Nikolov, Doriana Galabova, Ekaterina Stoyanova, Irena Nencheva, Lenko Gurkov, Mariyan Stefanov, Nina Goranovski, Orhan Tair, Petyo Krastev, Sergey Konstantinov

Especially for the role of the Man-Eater, Bistra Okereke takes part - the first professional actress of African descent in Bulgaria.

„My „Man-Eater“ does not need to be updated, deliberately modernised. After almost 50 years it is relevant again, so it will be set in the time in which it was created. And the great theme that concerns me, director Orhan Tair shares, is that, then as now, old people, forced by the times in which we live, are left alone, far from their children, from their loved ones.“

If over the last 30 years this satirical comedy, which wove in the tragic story of socialist man, was perceived solely as a critique of totalitarianism, then the Pleven theatre’s performance, directed by Orhan Tair, aims to go beyond these frames and reveal that genius of Ivan Radoev’s text which made it universal for the Bulgarian situation.

That is why, in this performance of ours, full of comedy and zest for life, about some familiar residents of an old people’s home, „when migration was rampant and the young scattered“, „somewhere at the end of the world, far from civilisation, automation, neurosis and modern sterility“, we will examine in an unexpected way the themes that relentlessly haunt our present - about man and power, about the mechanisms by which a society functions, forever accompanied by „journalists, footballers, optimists, careerists…“, and about that abandoned little person, always clinging to life, who will exclaim - „Laughing, the old man mocks his own future“. And can we mock death? We can, Ivan Radoev writes, but not to its face, because it is reckless!“ 

Look out, at the end of January, for an ultimate comedy that will look you straight in the eye. In it, thirteen happy little people take part, who will blame the state and not only it for all their woes, because „The people are nervous, comrades!“.

And if you are not convinced of the eternal relevance of Ivan Radoev’s text, here is the famous „speech“ of the mute Yota: „Careerists! Under the road and over the road! Under the desk and behind the desk! The snails crawl and crawl and climb up the branches of the state. And the state writes them fables to re-educate them. They crawl and chuckle to themselves, and behind them there is a stench of filth. The snail climbed to the top of the branch, spread its wings and soared over the institution. And the institution trembles like a hare, ears pricked, gnawing its carrot. It trembles not for its life, but for one carrot… They steal from this state! Whose is this state?... Whose is this state?... Is it not the neighbour’s?“