{"id":698,"date":"2020-12-06T18:52:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T18:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/?p=698"},"modified":"2022-11-23T20:04:46","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T20:04:46","slug":"experiments-with-human-nature-interview-with-margarita-mladenova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/experiments-with-human-nature-interview-with-margarita-mladenova\/","title":{"rendered":"Experiments with Human Nature: Interview with Margarita Mladenova"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Kamelia Nikolova<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margarita Mladenova is an emblematic director of Bulgaria\u2019s contemporary theatre. She was born in the city of Svishtov on the Danube, in 1947, and studied Theatre Directing at the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA), Sofia. From the beginning she showed signs of being a promising young director. Two authors were crucial to her development throughout the 1980s: namely, the great Bulgarian poet Valeri Petrov (whose works provided the inspiration for some of Mladenova\u2019s best productions during that period), and the Russian playwright and dissident Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, whose critically acclaimed play Cinzano<\/em> Mladenova staged in 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Margarita Mladenova. Photo: Simon Varsano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In her productions based on the works of these two authors, Mladenova deepened her interest in the visual poetic theatre language. She also became engaged in collaborative experimental work with actors who urged her to establish her own theatre laboratory. Mladenova\u2019s dream came true in 1988, when she set up Sfumato Theatre Laboratory together with Ivan Dobchev (born 1947), another ingenious director, who established himself in the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sfumato TL has been the most stable of Bulgarian experimental groups over the last three decades and has enjoyed the greatest international popularity and success. The company emerged in the years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a period of political change in the country that was attended by a rapid expansion of Bulgaria\u2019s theatre map. Sfumato\u2019s premiere production was a staging of Chekhov\u2019s The Seagull<\/em> on December 22, 1989. The company has continued its successful development since then until today. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The Black Fleece,<\/em> directed by Margarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobchev, Sfumato TL, 2000. Photo: Sfumato TL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The distinct characteristics of Sfumato TL\u2019s productions are their distinctive visual images, their atmospheric theatrical aesthetic and the authenticity of the actor\u2019s experience. In the first decade of their existence, the company was engrossed in experiments in, and in blending, the theatres of anthropology and psychology. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, they have focused on the techniques of postdramatic performance, and most recently, they have turned increasingly to socially and politically engaged theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sfumato Theatre Laboratory marked its thirtieth anniversary in 2019, when central and eastern Europe, and Bulgaria in particular, celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of communism. How do you relate the establishing of your company to the political change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When establishing Sfumato TL together with Ivan Dobchev in the late 1980s, we made it clear that it was a purposeful political act. By investing efforts to open our own theatre laboratory (which we initially did separately, before we teamed up in a joint project), we demonstrated our desire to break with the ideological restrictions that existed and with the routine of Bulgarian theatre. We sought our own, new ways to study human nature and the world by means of stagecraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company of about fourteen actors we invited at the time were, like us, eager to experiment, to break free from the conventional theatre system\u2014which was focused on outcomes and on audiences\u2019 warm reception. They wanted to work in a laboratory environment. We composed a manifesto for the company, A Studio Gospel<\/em>, stating our goals, which were: to study, to experiment with theatre language, to strive to explore its great potential, rather than to have a completed production. That was how we began to develop our first production, Chekhov\u2019s The Seagull<\/em>: working slowly, seeking to delve deep and gain insight into the essence of actor\u2019s and human nature respectively, to go beyond the established stage clich\u00e9s of psychological theatre by using many devices of Grotowski\u2019s anthropological theatre and Anatoly Vasiliev\u2019s discoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Chekhov\u2019s Three Sisters<\/em>, directed by Margarita Mladenova, Sfumato TL, 1996. Photo: Sfumato TL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In its history, spanning three decades, Sfumato TL has had over 60 productions performed on national and international stages, and at prestigious festivals and showcases. Both of the directors, co-founders and managers of the Laboratory have conducted many workshops, masterclasses and residencies, not only in Bulgaria, but also in France, the US and elsewhere. Which of these productions would you highlight as defining?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apocrypha<\/em> (1997) and The Black Fleece<\/em> (2000), which were co-directed by me and Ivan Dobchev, were emblematic productions in terms of their significance to the development of Sfumato TL\u2019s own style. They breathed life into our main idea, which was to pursue the most productive ways of gaining really deep insights into human nature by means of intensive laboratory work with actors. Such productions not only made a clear statement of our programme, but they were also very well-liked by audiences and critics, and they gained international recognition and popularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The making of Apocrypha<\/em> was a tough, but defining, moment for Sfumato TL. At the time we made every effort to ensure our company\u2019s own space by reconstructing an old building in downtown Sofia. In 1996, two of our Chekhov productions, my Three Sisters<\/em> and Ivan Dobchev\u2019s Uncle Vanya<\/em>, were performed at Nancy Festival Passages. We were immediately invited to put on Chekhov\u2019s The Cherry Orchard<\/em> for the 1996 edition of Festival d’ Avignon. In addition, the organisers of Passages liked our work very much and suggested that we make a new production, which would open its 1997 edition. Thus, Apocrypha<\/em> came to pass. It was also the opening performance at our new building in Sofia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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