FOR THE FIRST TIME IN BULGARIA THERE WILL BE PRESENTED IN STARA ZAGORA THE MASTERPIECE BY GOUNOD “FAUST” AS AN OPERA WITH PUPPETS.

On 17 November in the interval of the premiere in the opera lobby will be opened the Exhibition “My Puppet – My Fairy-Tale World”. The curator is Emma Zhunich PhD, who is the head of the archive of the Opera.

“The story of Dr. Faust turned out to be very interesting, beside his being a historical personality. Goethe himself got acquainted with this story thanks to a travelling group, which presented using puppets, by means of the puppet theater the story of Dr. Faust. When he started working on the theme years later, he had at his disposal over 40 plays based on the theme “Dr. Faust”, says to BNT Emma Zhunich PhD.

The exposition which is already being situated in the lobby of the Opera, has gathered till now over 100 puppets from all over the world, and Zhunich PhD continues to expect new ones. Many of the puppets were cleaned and restored by her for the exhibition, which will be an attraction of the long-time expected premiere. Exhibits were provided by more than 30 families from Stara Zagora. The Regional Library “Zahariy Knyazheski”, Library “Rodina” and Museum “Literary Stara Zagora” participate with rare editions of “Faust”. The House-Museum “Geo Milev” provided an edition whose illustrations were made by one of the founders of the Bulgarian Expressionism.

“Faust” is the second opera with puppets which is staged in Bulgaria. The first was “Turandot”, again a production of the Stara Zagora Opera, said for BTA the director Ognyan Draganov, who is also the manager-director of the oldest out-of-the-capital troupe in Bulgaria. For the first time he saw a museum for puppets and a carnival in Barcelona in 2008 while walking with his family along Rambla Street. Later he received a proposal to stage “Faust” in Bogota, Colombia, he prepared an opera with puppets but it remained unrealized. Thus he decided to make an attempt on the stage of Stara Zagora Opera. “This is an expensive production and I allowed it because I have the support of the director of the Stara Zagora Puppet Theater Darin Petkov” shared before BTA Ognyan Draganov. A similar production of an opera with puppets was realized some years ago in the Royal Opera in London, the famous Covent Garden. But it was not Faust, made it clear the director.

The bold idea of an opera with puppets, which was born in Barcelona, passed via Bogota and a decade later reached Stara Zagora is our opportunity to see it realized at the premiere on 17 November as well. With it will be opened the 52^nd edition of the Festival for Opera and Ballet Arts (FOBA).

Author Rumyana Lecheva – BTA Stara Zagora