“The idea for this initiative came to French director and drama pedagogue Eleonora Rossi who discussed it with her colleagues from the children’s Theatre Dubrava and Sibenik Theatre in Croatia who were the first to organize and hold a European Theatre Night in 2008. The initiative then spread, with Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria joining in. The idea of European Theatre Night is to bring theatre to the public, to create a bond between actors and the audience who watch them and support them every night. To show up all possible faces of theatre, to lift the curtain as far as it will go and to arouse the love of the viewers for everything happening in the world of theatre,” says Maria Panayotova, one of the organizers of European Theatre Night.

Its debut in Bulgaria was in September 2013 in Sofia, and the decision was experimental, says Maria and adds: “The European initiative takes place on a set day – every third Saturday of November. Our colleagues in Europe deemed it appropriate as it is at the height of the theatre season. So, we decided to organize it on the same day as all other European countries – November 15.”

Interest last year was immense, so this time Theatre Night will take place in 11 Bulgarian towns.

“The events are most diverse. We have more than 150 performance art events, musical events and exhibitions, “open doors”, theatrical meetings and screenings in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Stara Zagora, Rousse, Haskovo, Shoumen, Blagoevgrad, Sliven, Smolyan and Yambol. The Night will be given a symbolical start at 11 AM with an “open doors” day at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre and at the Sofia Opera and Ballet. Moreover, there will be visits behind the scenes of a number of theatre houses like the ones in Blagoevgrad and Smolyan. At 4.30 PM there will be an exclusive film screening, dedicated to the 110^th anniversary of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre on its main stage. Admission is free. People in Plovdiv will be able to attend an open-door rehearsal at 10 PM in the city’s Drama Theatre. In Smolyan, European Theatre Night will kick off with a torchlight procession and the entire programme will end at 3 AM.”

Maria adds that the ticket prices for the different events will be set by the theatre houses themselves, but that most of them will be preferential:

“In Berlin for example, there is one single ticket for the whole night and it costs EUR 8. This ticket provides admission to the different locations and events, created or adapted especially for the initiative – they are all short, around 30 minutes in length and are played over and over again throughout the night. With good planning, the audience is able to watch a great many of the events.”

English: Milena Daynova