"The Son"
by Florian Zeller
Creatives:
Director - Diana Dobreva
Set & Costume Designer - Mira Kalanova
Music by Petya Dimanova
Choreographer - Deyan Georgiev
Cast:
Zachary Baharov, Vladimir Penev, Teodora Duhovnikova, Alexander Tonev, Aneta Ivanova
A year or so after theatregoers were awestruck by her production of The Father, NT director Diana Dobreva put on the Main Stage the critically acclaimed The Son by Florian Zeller, the last play in his trilogy.
With The Son (2019) the French playwright made a hat-trick, beginning with The Mother (2012), then The Father (2015).
With the first premieres this year of the latest production (on 17, 18 January), Zachary Baharov makes a comeback to the National Theatre stage. Also starring Theodora Duhovnikova and Vladimir Penev, who played in The Father. The cast includes also the young Annetta Ivanova and Alexander Tonev.
The tense and thrilling plot could well be ‘borrowed’ by Florian Zeller from the drama of any contemporary family these days: divorced parents; their troubled teenage son no longer trusting them and facing a communication breakdown, attempts to ‘scream mutely’ his pain and longing for a family and understanding.
The boy lives with his mother, where a depressing and chilly atmosphere of loneliness pervades, lacking her affection and support, agonisingly missing his father, who has started a stepfamily and has another child. The kid responds by skipping months of school; closing in on himself, cloistering himself behind imaginary protective walls, rebelling in his own way.
Does his behaviour come as a response to the fact that the chemistry isn’t there between the ex-spouses, who are his parents? To playing the blame game? To an upheaval in the stepfamily? To reconciliation?
The Son by Florian Zeller is all about a big and thorny question addressed to all of us from the stage: Does love come at a price? Or you can’t put a price on love?
The play was translated by Snezhina Rusinova–Zdravkova; set and costume design by Mira Kalanova; music by Petya Dimanova; choreography by Deyan Georgiev.
In-house dramatist - Mirela Ivanova
Assistant director - Olga Nedialkova
Poster photographer - Pavel Chervenkov
Leaflet photographer - Bozhidar Markov
Poster and leaflet designer - Yanina Petrova
Premieres on 17, 18 January 2020
Unsuitable for those aged under 12
Running time - 1 hr 50 m, no interval
