Promenade Performance
Martina Novakova and Miguel Valentin
Rozina Makaveeva
Emilijan Gacov-Elbi
Valentin Ganev (voice), Mikhail Petrov, Gergana Zmiicharova, Velislav Pavlov, Paraskeva Dzhukelova, Pavlin Petrunov, Valeriya Georieva / Antoniya Zdravkova
The starting point of the promenade performance is at the North Box Office of the National Theatre (on Slavyanska Street) - 10 minutes before the start. There, audience members will receive their headphones. The route passes through various spaces within the theatre building and includes climbing and descending stairs, as well as moving most of the time.
“Who hasn't ever wished to be called by another name? To live another life? To play their role differently? The world is a theatre with infinite stages, where voices from all times sound simultaneously. Nothing is more contemporary than our ghosts.”
A child enters the theatre, drawn by a mysterious voice, despite warnings against it. As it searches for the stage to deliver its own words, it encounters a writer collecting foreign words from the past and present - dangerous, comforting, living words hidden in every corner of the magnificent National Theatre building, which continue to hover in the air. The Infinite Stages invites the audience to follow them and together with the actors observe, listen, and experience this space and dimension as never before. Perhaps inside, they will even meet their own reflection and the echo of their own voice.
The Infinite Stages is a promenade performance led by sound and actors. Live scenes alternate with audio scenes - archival recordings and sound compositions. In the headphones, participants hear voices and atmospheres that open new, parallel spaces through which we travel both physically and emotionally. Gradually, the viewers become the main protagonists.
“There is no person whom we cannot call an actor. The passerby rehearsing their walk, the spectator who meets the actor's gaze, the little girl pretending to live someone else's life. For 118 years, the National Theatre has echoed with true and fictional voices that linger in the air. We invite the audience to rediscover this magnificent building like never before and together ponder the role of theatre in our lives and history.”
— Martina Novakova, director and playwright.
“Together, memory and imagination create the only time machine we know. They are also the primary material of theatre. The first image we see on stage is a person remembering. We remember what to do, what to say. We remember what those before us did and said. Thanks to memory, enriched by imagination, we can visit all spaces and times in this extraordinary building, and together imagine other possible lives.”
— Miguel Valentin, director and playwright
Martina Novakova and Miguel Valentin began their collaboration in 2018 while studying in the Master's program in “Theatrical Arts,” led by the world-renowned playwright Juan Mayorga at Carlos III University in Madrid. Since then, they have realized numerous theatrical and educational projects in Bulgaria, Spain, and the USA.
Martina Novakova (Sofia, Bulgaria) is a playwright, theatre director, and educator. She holds Master's degrees in “Theatrical Arts” and “Documentary and Educational Theatre” from New York University, where she studied with a Fulbright scholarship and an additional grant from “Tuk-Tam.” For her, theatre is an experience, and in her work, she develops various theatrical forms such as verbatim theatre, site-specific, audio theatre, and object theatre.
Miguel Valentin (Madrid, Spain) is a playwright, director, and educator. He completed his Bachelor's degree in “Audio-Visual Communication” and “Acting” at Cuarta Pared. He holds Master's degrees in “Theatrical Arts” and “Cultural Management.” He is the coordinator of the Master's program led by Juan Mayorga, where he also teaches. He is the head of the Creative Writing lab at Navel Art. He works in the fields of audio theatre, documentary, and educational theatre and explores the relationship between cinema and theatre. He has dozens of staged performances in Spain and other European countries.
Boyan Kracholov, Dr. Svetlana Pancheva, Mirela Ivanova
Marinela Sivcheva
There is no additional age restriction. The performance is also suitable for children.
Premiere: March 22, 2025
