The programme of the Varna Summer International Theatre Festival includes high achievements of ancient Greek tragedy such as Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Euripides’ Medea, the late medieval dialogue between Man and Death in Johannes von Tepl The Ploughman and Death, and the emblem of Shakespeare’s tragic oeuvre, Hamlet—all reinterpreted through the lens of contemporaneity. In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, we sense the tragedy of everyday life (as Maeterlinck might have put it), while in Brecht’s Mother Courage, we can perceive tragic forebodings of tomorrow in a world where humanism is put to the test, and war is a dominant image, shattering the value systems of millions. Similar projections of the tragic can be found in other performances in the festival programme. What are the dimensions of the tragic in contemporary theatre, and how does the modern stage engage with classical tragedies?
The discussion is open to festival participants, guests, and audiences.
Working languages: Bulgarian and English