08-04-2022 10:07
Continuous applause, 10-minute curtain calls, a hall full of people, plenty of laughter and new friends from the audience. This is how we can describe the success of the three-day tour in March of the performance entitled “Killer flight - theatre play with choices” in the town of Montana, Bulgaria. Over 650 in just three days attended the performance held in the hall of the Youths’ Community Centre in the town of Montana, which was literally full to the brim, to see the amusing story of a group of people travelling on an extraordinary flight from Sofia to Oslo. “Our last performance was attended by 213 spectators, while the usual capacity of the hall is 180 seats” said the project manager Mariana Makaveeva from the “From heart to heart” Association. “In order to attract this audience, we had to win people’s hearts before the performance itself” she added while talking about the project which had won its funding from the Financial Mechanism of European Economic Area (EEA) through the Programme “Cultural entrepreneurship, heritage and cooperation” of the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria.
For the purpose of achieving the common goals such as reaching the general public, developing audiences, involving people in various cultural, information and educational activities, all the actors “rolled up their sleeves” and took part in the popularization of the project in Montana.
An active advertising campaign was held on the streets of the north-west town, which is regarded as the natural continuation of the massive online campaign on the social networks and the Internet. All the participants in the team of “Killer flight - theatre play with choices” roamed the parks and the streets during the cold days of March, knocked on the doors of the Montana citizens’ homes, rang the doorbells, attracted potential spectators in front of the shops and the cafés, having only one purpose in mind – to invite the people from this small town, where cultural events are rare, to bring something different into their lives. And the result came soon. The tickets for the entire tour at the symbolic price of 1 lev were sold out. The local people literally embraced them, being eager to attend new cultural events. The theatre performance also achieved its goal to attract people who had never been or would never go to the theatre. “From the stage we could see the familiar faces of our new friends among the audience, which was increasing as the performances grew in number, being advertised by word of mouth. The emotion and the energy that the audience was sending back to the actors was absolutely unforgettable from the first minute of the performance and the feedback was positive and full of inspiration. We left the stage accompanied by loud applause, with our hearts full to the top, being greatly impressed by the warmth and the hospitality of the local people” shared the project manager with a smile on the face while talking about the emotions of the performance in Montana and also added that the audience included representatives of all walks of life – students, retired people, representatives of the Roma community in the town, a bus full of people from the village of Portitovtsi as well as representatives of the Union of blind people in the district.
“A long time had passed since I last saw something so fresh, interesting and amusing. It is quite obvious that you had worked very hard, with great passion and creative thinking! You should continue to entertain people because laughter is the best medicine for bad mood” was just one of the many positive reviews posted on the project website.
The tour in the town of Montana was the first tour for this play, whose premiere was held in October last year in the town of Kostinbrod. The play also premiered in the city of Sofia. Every stage performance brings another different emotion for the team. “Each theatre play is like a child learning to walk and with every performance, the child starts running and laughing carefree. We are still under the influence of the emotions from our tour in Montana. Wonderful people, faces from the audience who came to see all the performances”, said Evgeniya Roeva, the project’s creative director.
“Killer flight - theatre play with choices” is my debut with a theatre play text. And the first times are always remembered! There is also a specific delight in doing something that has no history. Because you do not compare and do not pose yourself any restrictions, you just create instead. I will remember this play for the challenge of this task – numerous components, a synthesis of arts, plot variations… All of this required great “advanced flying” skills and, of course, a pinch of good creative luck. To come up with a promising idea that will serve as the basis of it all. Well, thank God, it occurred to me! Thank you, Greta Thunberg! We are all grateful to you for our flight which you would never get on because you do not like planes. Let me tell you what a pity it is – you have missed a great cast playing with zest and quite a pleasant madness! And they will become famous all the way to Norway!”, said the scriptwriter Tenyo Gogov. This play is also the directorial debut of the actor Georgi Karkelanov. They both “plunged” into this project with heart and soul and do not regret for the endless days and nights spent working on “Killer flight – theatre play with choices”.
The success of this play is also largely attributable to the Norwegian partner – one of the most active cultural entrepreneurs in Norway – the non-governmental organization Culture Breaks Borders. The two teams jointly implemented this creative interweavement of various arts. The music, the choreography and the scenography were created by experts from Norway who had been selected by the partner and who spent ten days in Sofia in order to cooperate with their Bulgarian colleagues and leave their trace in this performance. In addition to creativity, the Norwegian partner also shared their experience and concept of art and their Bulgarian colleagues successfully utilized all that was shared with them in the sphere of cultural entrepreneurship.
Despite the success of the tour in Montana, there were some obstacles in its implementation. The reason, of course, is the one that posed numerous and quite serious impediments to the cultural community worldwide – the Covid-19 pandemic. “This had a great impact on many objectives set in the project as a result of the restrictions posed to the audience – green certificates, limitation of the number of spectators. Isolation and statistics of the people infected with the disease. We were forced not to organize any performances within the period January-February 2022. The prices of the electricity and the unstable political situation worldwide were also regarded as factors during the winter season as well as the lack of proper heating. “Fortunately, all these problems are hopefully in the past and we have prepared a schedule of all the performances to be held by the end of the project and we truly hope to be able to implement everything to the tiniest details”, said the project coordinator Antoaneta Shumanova.
For everyone involved in this project, the meetings with the audience, the 10-minute curtain calls, the inspired spectators, the shining and thoughtful faces of people of all ages after the performance, in which they are not only spectators, but also participants, are a reason for pure happiness. “The experience is now becoming personal, once you have been a participant in it, the performance becomes a joint experience”, said Mrs. Roeva.
The creative team of “Killer flight – theatre play with choices” consisting of: the actors Dayana Handzhieva, Toni Karabashev, Adelina Petrova, Ivan Stanchev, Stanka Velinova, Vasil Bovyanski, Galina Boneva, Evgeniya Roeva, the director Georgi Karkelanov and the scriptwriter Tenyo Gogov are eagerly expecting the forthcoming unforgettable meetings with the audience. The play will be performed again on the stage of Ivan Vazov Cultural Community Centre in the town of Kostinbrod on 13th, 18th and 20th April. For more information, visit the project Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Killerflightcomedy and the website: www.killerflight.eu.