Based on Ivan Vazov’s novel of the same name
Book-to-stage adaptation by Yourii Datchev
Yourii Datchev
Bina Haralampieva
Svila Velichkova, Vanina Tsandeva
Asen Avramov
The book-to-stage adaptation of the most controversial novel by the Patriarch of Bulgarian Literature is staged for the first time; adapted by playwright/director Yourii Datchev, director Bina Haralampieva (The Little Foxes, When a Thunderbolt Strikes…). This production marks the 110th anniversary of 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 up 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 their 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 Many things in New Land feel outdated, repeating; still, our destructive self-distrust has not deepened as yet.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 … may be 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, and 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 of hearing 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
Yourii Datchev
Meglena Dimitrova
Yanina Petrova
Stefan N. Shterev
Premiere: 28th and 29th of April 2021
