Krum Kyuliavkov or...Leon Daniel? - View Info - 2024-05-05 05:32:58

/ world today news/ Recently there was an announcement in the press that there was a proposal for the Drama Theater of Lovech to adopt the name of Stefan Danailov, / I would say a little hasty and unmotivated, because this artist is not connected either to the city or to this stage/, reminded me of most of the names of our theaters – those that survived the ridiculous “reforms”. I have been writing with concern about this sick topic – about the absurd and unprecedented in Europe “delegated budgets” that have ruined our stages creatively, morally and financially, but unfortunately, most of the theatergoers do not raise their voices, they just sleep. But that’s not what I’m talking about now.

Naming a cultural institute, as well as a street, square, school, not to mention a settlement, is quite a complex and responsible job. It requires a lot of thinking, consultations, opinions of specialists, of the public. And in our country, in principle, these things are done hastily and not well thought out, mainly after political coups, regime changes or on the occasion of anniversaries and other events. Thus, after Ninth, we had cities with the names of Stalin, Tolbukhin, Stanke Dimitrov, Vasil Kolarov, Dimitar Polyanov and with all sorts of other names of leaders, politicians, functionaries. / Unfortunately, Dimitrovgrad remained./ Theaters with patrons or without patrons – older and newly created – were named and renamed. There were quite a few hits. Many of the larger ones, on the Russian, Soviet model, adopted the names of famous native theater actors: Krastyu Sarafov, Sava Ognyanov, Adriana Budevska, Stefan Kirov, Ivan Dimov, Stoyan Bachvarov, Vladimir Trendafilov, Konstantin Kisimov, Boyan Danovski, Apostol Karamitev / at this, most of them related to these cities/, and also of writers who also wrote for the stage: Vasil Drumev, Sava Dobroplodni, Anton Strashimirov, Geo Milev, Yordan Yovkov, Racho Stoyanov, Konstantin Velichkov, Nikola Vaptsarov. After some time, there were changes – the National Theater from “Krastyu Sarafov” became “Ivan Vazov”, the branch took the name of the great Vasil Kirkov, the first Bulgarian Hamlet, and then it was separated as “Tear and Laughter”, until finally the reform erased it! The one in Plovdiv – by the director-pedagogue Nikolay Osipovich Masalitinov, and in Kardzhali – Dimitar Dimov. The unique Satirical Theater was naturally named after the great Aleko. Later, Lyubomir Kabakchiev was honored in his native Kazanlak, and Nevena Kokanova in her debut Yambol. But there were also some misunderstandings – “Georgi Kirkov” for Plevenskii, now “Ivan Radoev”. Unfortunately, some quite controversial ones remained, such as “Krum Kyulyavkov” in Kyustendil and “Dragomir Asenov” in Montana. The first was a fanatical communist functionary from the time of Chervenkov, an author of talentless texts for the stage, a censor who caused a lot of harm to Bulgarian culture, considered one of the murderers of the democrat-satirist Raiko Alexiev, whose fur coat he stole! / except that in this city there is another street and a school named after him!/ and the second Dragomir Assenov / Jacques Melamed/ was a very prolific and mediocre author of supposedly problematic and critical plays from the time of the socialist, today completely and utterly deservedly forgotten. It is interesting that we have a theater with the name of Nikolay Haitov, but we don’t have a theater with the name of the great Yavorov?!

And the choice of worthy names for patrons of these scenes is large. The mentioned greats – Vasil Kirkov and Sarafov, also: the unforgettable Roza Popova, an incredible person, builder of the Bulgarian theater with huge merits for the theaters of Plovdiv, Ruse, Pleven, Burgas and other cities, also Georgi Stamatov, Petar K. Stoychev, Nikolay Fall , Krastyu Mirski and many others.

The fact that the famous and beloved Chamber Theater 199 does not bear the name of any great theater actor, but of one of its administrative directors, whose name Valentin Stoychev, no one, except those who worked there years ago, has ever heard of, let alone the public, is puzzling. the audience, and even for the new generations of actors. The name of the “Azaryan” Theater is controversial, according to many, but it could still be accepted, even though we have had much bigger directors than him, for example Leon Daniel, Luben Groys or Metodi Andonov.

The theater in my native Ruse proudly bears the name of the great Sava Ognyanov, who studied in the city and played on the Ruse stage. In the renovated building of the beautiful Dohodno building / his home / there are three halls with names: small – “Konstantin / Didi / Dimchev”/, medium / “Slavi Shkarov”/ and large /”Mladen Kiselov”/. Here, excluding the first one, which took the name of an incredibly talented artist and with some stipulations – the second one, I would say that the third one was hastily named. Why? Mladen Kiselov was born in Ruse, but he did not make any contribution to the theater and the city, he simply did not work there. Almost all major theater actors from the capital and the country have worked for the nearly 120-year-old Ruse Theater, but there are a few names of long-time builders. I will mention only four from more recent times: Alexander Bechev, Zharko Pavlovich, Georgi Georgiev and Vasil Popiliev. It was they who were neglected in this naming of the halls.

In the list of Bulgarian theaters I saw that there are only a few without names – Targovishte, Lovech and Vratsa. If we add the completely inappropriate ones of Kyustendil and Montana – there are five. It would be well for the theaters of these cities to choose suitable persons for their patrons. In the rich more than 150-year history of the Bulgarian theater, there are many bright names of deserving artists who should not be forgotten. Why should the “father of the Bulgarian theater” Dobri Voinikov not be a patron in Kyustendil? We don’t have a theater named after him? And there are two great names of writers and playwrights of our time who will certainly remain in history – Georgi Markov and Stanislav Stratiev. At the same time, much more significant than one Major Deyanov, sorry, Stefan Danailov.

And hopefully no more theaters will be closed or “reformed”… And as for the naming of the theaters, isn’t it best not to accept names for their patrons? Doesn’t it sound better: Drama Theater, Plovdiv, Drama Theater Pleven, Theater 199?

Georgi Markov / 1929 – 1978/