24 CHASA: "CINEMA AND THEATRE IN ONE: ANYA PENCHEVA FIRST FILMS IN RIGA, THEN PLAYS A ROLE ONCE PLAYED BY TATYANA LOLOVA"

Cinema in theatre and theatre in cinema. That is how the premiere performance “A Dangerous Comedy” can be described.

The plot follows the story of a middle-aged man and woman who meet shortly after the war and try to find the way forward. If it sounds familiar, that is because it is the classic story by the Russian playwright Aleksei Arbuzov. The performance “An Old-Fashioned Comedy” has been staged on various stages across Bulgaria in different cities. The play was created in 1975 and has enjoyed a long and happy life on the Bulgarian stage. In 1976 the famous director Mladen Kiselov staged it at Theatre 199 with the great actors Tatyana Lolova and Georgi Kaloyanchev, and that is its most popular realisation.

Now, almost half a century later, Anya Pencheva and Georgi Angelov take on these roles. The performance has been updated and given a new title - “A Dangerous Comedy”. The modern version impresses the audience with a film projection on the theatre stage.

“It is about two lonely people in the autumn of their lives, who have evidently changed their value system and realised that love and laughter are above all else, when you no longer have anything else. This is a production that is a message to everyone”, Anya Pencheva told “24 Chasa”.

She takes on the remarkable role once played by Tatyana Lolova, but does not compare herself to her at all. “When “The Peach Thief” came out at the National Theatre, they asked me how I felt in a role once played by Nevena Kokanova. But I would not allow myself to put my name in the same sentence as theirs, because for me they are icons”, the actress says.

New life is breathed into the play by director Dimitar Kabakov. He is the director of the "Ivan Radoev" Drama and Puppet Theatre in Pleven, and it was there that the premiere of the performance took place last week.

Kabakov chose precisely this play because he remembers the performance at Theatre 199, which he saw as a student in the 1980s in Sofia.

“A warm feeling has stayed with me, and I, as a director without much experience, prefer to work on texts that allow the actors to express themselves to the maximum on stage”, the director said recently in an interview.

“What I like about the text is its normality, the things that are spoken about in it. About how, despite all the storms that life dumps on your back, all the difficulties and trials, the tragedies, you manage to survive, to shake yourself off, to continue on your way, to live your life normally. It seems to me that this is increasingly lacking in our time”, Kabakov says.

The fate of the two characters is marked by the last war. In the original this is the Second World War, but it could also be any war of our own time. The action takes place in the Latvian capital Riga, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. That is why the team went there for a week and filmed the cinema scenes on location at the Jurmala resort. Thus the performance is built on the combination of cinema and theatre. In the theatre hall a film projection begins, ending the action in a café, for example. Then the canvas, which is the screen, is raised, and the actors on stage are in the same position in which the film projection ended.

“It is amazing! There is a shot in which we dance in a restaurant, and then on stage we continue the dance”, Anya Pencheva recounts. Thus the audience is immersed in an ironic-funny and beautiful story. And after the performance, which is only one hour and 20 minutes, they want to watch more and more.

The set and visual environment are by Petko Tanchev, Yasmin Mandelli makes the beautiful costumes, and Dimitris Georgiev and Viktoria Karakoleva film the cinema scenes. The choreographer is Lyuba Valentinova, and the wonderful music is by Ivan Lechev.

“A Dangerous Comedy” has one more premiere date - this evening. On 30 November the performance will also be presented in Sofia on the stage of “Theatro otsam kanala”.

24 Chasa: "Cinema and theatre in one: Anya Pencheva first films in Riga, then plays a role once played by Tatyana Lolova", Author: Viktoria Kostova