New Land
Based on Ivan Vazov’s novel of the same name
Book-to-stage adaptation by Yourii Datchev
Creatives:
Directed by Bina Haralampieva
Set & Costume Design by Svila Velichkova, Vanina Tsandeva
Music by Asen Avramov
Cast:
IVAN YURUKOV, HRISTO PETKOV, MARIA STEFANOVA, ALEXANDRA VASILEVA, RADINA BORSHOSH RADENA VALKANOVA,
JACQUELINE DASKALOVA, SOFIA BOBCHEVA, YAVOR VALKANOV, EVA DANAILOVA, VALENTIN TANEV, NIKOLAY URUMOV,
DARIN ANGELOV, Gerasim Georgiev – GERO, VASIL DRAGANOV, DIMITAR NIKOLOV, BOGDAN BUHALOV,
LYUBOMIR PETKASHEV, STOYAN PEPELANOV, NEDELIN NAIDENOV
The book-to-stage adaptation od the most controversial novel by the Patriarch of Bulgarian Literature is staged for the first time ever; adapted by playwright/director Yourii Datchev, director Bina Haralampieva (The Little Foxes, When a Thunderbolt Strikes…). This production marks the 110th anniversary since Ivan Vazov’s death.
New Land takes us back to Bulgaria’s post-Liberation period. a time of ups and downs, of ideals and retail prices, of self-sacrifices and betrayals, of standing for dignity and of traitorous collaboration for the sake of survival. The stage adaptation of New Land, Ivan Vazov’s most controversial novel, was an alarming revelation about the Bulgarian character and a latter-day question about the stumbling blocks repeatedly popping along the way toward national unification.
„This production takes us to a great period of our history. A nation passionately and euphorically faces the future of its reunited country, having perhaps not enough time to think about its „infantile disorders“ that would develop into chronic ailments on its way. And do we now, being far more straight thinking, enjoying enhanced self-confidence and experience, think about them? And even if we do, aren’t we approaching the matter with scepticism, an ailment in itself that we constantly foster? Many things in New Land feel outdated, repeating; still, our destructive self-distrust has not deepened as yet. This renders our experience with the emotions and hopes of the novel and its characters unique, gripping and … maybe irreversible.“
Bina Haralampieva
„We choose and love first and foremost that Vazov, who praises and touches the hearts, who reminds the heroes and natural scenery, everything that has built up Bulgarian greatness. We haven’t learned to read the pains, questions, dislikes, pointing at the moral turpitude of our mores and character, where there are „newer and newer beauties at every glance“. Roughened and one-sided as it may sound, dislike of New Land is associated with our habit to hear Vazov only to a certain degree. Our unripe souls have tucked this novel in an out-of-the-way place on the lower shelf of our libraries. We ought to rearrange this shelf, taking off those Bulgarian books that are difficult to read, sweating over the archaic words and the truths about us; feeling ourselves not only caressed by Vazov’s affection, but also inquired by it.“
Yourii Datchev
Nominations: Askeer 2021 for Best Production; for Set and Costume Design to Svila Velichkova, Vanina Tsandeva
In-house dramatist: Yourii Datchev
Assistant director: Meglena Dimitrova
Poster & Leaflet Designer: Yanina Petrova
Photographer: Stefan N. Shterev
Premieres on 28, 29 April 2021.
Unsuitable for under 12s.
Running time: 2 hrs 20 m, without an intermission.
