FAUST

/opera with puppets/
Opera in five acts by Charles Gounod
Libretto Jules Barbie and Michel Carre
Conductor Ivaylo Krinchev
Director Ognyan Draganov
Assistant-Conductors Viktor Krumov Pierre Walter
Director of Puppets Tsveti Penyashki
Scenography and Costumes Denis Ivanov
Puppet Scenography Vasil Rokomanov and Silva Bachvarova
Choreography Angelina Gavrilova
Choreography Mladen Stanek Chief Choirmaster Mladen Stanev
Language training of the singers, translation and subtitling Snezhina Zdravkova

17.11
Doctor Faust – Gabriel Arce
Old Faust – Nikolay Motsov
Mephistopheles – Yulian Konstantinov
Valentine – Valeri Turmanov
Margarita – Besa Llugiqi
Siebel – Petya Petrova
Marta – Tereza Brakalova
Wagner – Ivan Kabamitov
Choir, Ballet and Orchestra of the Stara Zagora State Opera
Actors from the State Puppet Theater – Stara Zagora
Proto-Bulgarian Survival School Baga-Tur
Children’s and Adolescents’ Studio for Opera and Ballet of the Stara Zagora State Opera

18.11
Doctor Faust – Ivaylo Mihaylov
Old Faust – Nikolay Motsov
Mephistopheles – Marius Bolos
Valentine – Yosif Slavov
Margarita – Besa Llugiqi
Siebel – Dimitar Arnaudov
Marta – Dobrinka Koynova-Brigman
Wagner – Yossif Slavov

The staging solution follows the powerful tradition of Classicism and Romanticism adding to it contemporary elements. The eternal themes of temptation, vanity and personal choice are interpreted. The questions about to what extent Man, as God’s creature has power over reality and can he exercise it in the most correct way? The world is full of numerous deformations. People in their thoughts and actions often make mistakes in their judgment of Good and Evil. This does not allow them to live in harmony. Evil takes a huge space, which spreads immediately before the threshold of the Divine.

The action takes place in a large courtroom where verdicts are pronounced. The conjured by Mephistopheles country is populated by critics, ready to ridicule each thought of the Elated. They are trying to obsess the life of Faust as well. In the Temple of Themis, he realizes his love for Margarite. The deformed reality places different obstacles before Faust. The clash between Good and Evil is embodied by the puppets, who carry in themselves their images in their purest form. When Margarite celebrates her love for Faust, the puppets blossom and swim out, similar to her beautiful feeling. With Faust the puppets express contrary suggestions, as an illustration of his lust and unrealistic expectations from the world, characteristic of a 75-year-old man.

A basic role in the production has the ballet. The temperamental dance in the Walpurgis Night gives an impressive plastic image of the two essences in life – Good and Evil. At the final, Faust returns to the beginning – in his study, among his books. He gets out of an intrusive dream and realizes that what he has been through has protected him against the desires and the compromises of his youth – wealth, love, war, material richness…

The message of the spectacle is that every person in their existence is forced to find the place of basic moral and way-of-life values and overcome the distorted understanding of the world, which the tumultuous life offers him.

The topicality of the production springs from the modern decision about the scenography and costumes – with clear forms and adaptation of the aesthetics of the fantasy genre and the visual components, characteristic of the computer games. With these means of expression is sought a more immediate effect and active attitude to the young audience.

Duration: 3 hours with one interval
Performed in French with titles in Bulgarian
Premiere performances: 17, 18 November – Festival of Opera and Ballet Art