A TRIUMPHANT SUCCESS FOR ALEKSANDAR MORFOV'S "ANTIGONE" AT THE "STOBI" INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

The Pleven theatre swept three of the most prestigious awards of the festival in Veles – the Grand Prix for the performance „Antigone“, the award for best directing for Aleksandar Morfov and the award for best actor for Deyan Donkov in the role of Creon.

The jubilee 20th edition of the "Stobi" International Festival of Ancient Drama – Veles began on 2 October and, at the organisers’ insistence, opened with the Pleven "Ivan Radoev" Drama and Puppet Theatre’s performance „Antigone“, directed by Aleksandar Morfov. „The audience went wild!“, „They will tear the actors apart…“ are just some of the comments of the festival guests after the performance. The Bulgarian actors were literally besieged by the exhilarated audience, and the applause lasted more than 15 minutes, festival participants shared.

On 12 October the jury of the 20th international "Stobi" festival – Yordan Vitanov (actor), Lyubcho Georgievski (director) and Katerina Momeva (playwright) – unanimously decided on the following awards: the Grand Prix for a performance for „Antigone“, a production of the Pleven "Ivan Radoev" Drama and Puppet Theatre, the award for best directing for Aleksandar Morfov, and the award for best male role for Deyan Donkov for his role as Creon.

After the enormous success of the performance „Antigone“, the decision spontaneously arose between Dimitar Kabakov, director of the Pleven theatre, and Sasho Dimovski, director of the theatre in Veles, to cooperate and realise, by 2026, a joint large-scale theatrical project between the Bulgarian and Macedonian teams.
The "Stobi" International Festival of Ancient Drama has been held annually since 1992. The ancient city of Stobi, near the city of Veles, was founded in the 2nd century BC and has been turned into a natural backdrop for this now very popular theatre festival. Due to the great interest, since 2001 the festival has had international status, and each performance, evaluated by an international jury, is attended on average by between 2,000 and 3,000 viewers.
The twentieth jubilee edition of the "Stobi" festival of ancient drama, with the motto „New Manifestos“, was focused on ancient drama and its contemporary narratives. The festival programme, which lasted until 12 October, featured performances from Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Greece and North Macedonia.
This year’s theatre celebration, IFAD "Stobi", was supported by the Bulgarian Cultural and Information Centre - Skopje, the Ministry of Culture of North Macedonia and the Municipality of Veles.

The Bulgarian „Antigone“ does not stop its journey, and as early as 6 November it will close the Balkan Theatre Festival in Blagoevgrad. On 16 December it again visits the stage of the „Ivan Vazov“ National Theatre, and at the start of next year „Antigone“ will also step onto the stage of the Plovdiv theatre. The performance is part of the programme of the Pleven "Ivan Radoev" Drama and Puppet Theatre and awaits its faithful audience, with whom to share the theatre celebration „Antigone“.