Uproar as ‘patriots’ disrupt Malkovich’s staging of Arms and the Man in Bulgaria’s capital
There was uproar at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia on November 7 as a horde of ultra-nationalists disrupted the opening of US star John Malkovich’s production of George Bernard Shaw’s stage play Arms and the Man.
There were physical confrontations as police struggled to contain an attempt by hundreds of supporters of “patriotic” organisations to invade the theatre.
Shaw’s comedy play Arms and the Man, first produced in 1894, takes place during the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War.
Protests against the production by Malkovich, the Hollywood star who has been to Bulgaria several times for film productions and who has taken the country to heart with previous theatre productions in Sofia, were stirred up by – among others – Neshka Robeva, a figure who was close to communist dictator Todor Zhivkov’s daugher Lyudmila, a doyenne of cultural life that Zhivkova sponsored during that regime and whose patronage spurred the careers of several who benefitted from it even into the democratic era. Malkovich frequently has spoken of his warm feelings towards Bulgaria.
The mob who tried to storm the Ivan Vazov theatre included those from ultra-nationalist minority parties, who claimed that Shaw’s play was anti-Bulgarian and sought to “ridicule, humiliate, caricature and humiliate the image of the Bulgarian and the memory of the heroes of the Serbo-Bulgarian war”.
Participants in the protest attempted to assault the theatre’s director, Vassil Vassilev, and demanded his resignation.
There was no immediate evidence that those “patriots” who objected to Shaw’s comedy had read the play, nor in the improbable event that they had, understood it. They focused on the premiere coinciding with the November 7 anniversary of the Battle of Slivnitsa in the Serbo-Bulgarian War.
Bulgarian National Television reported that Malkovich made a brief statement to the audience in a near-empty theatre, as those who had bought tickets could not get in because of the unruly mob outside.
“Thank you for your presence and for the effort you made to enter the hall,” Malkovich said.
At one point, amid the chaos, Vassilev said that the performance would be played out only in front of journalists, and those who had bought tickets would be compensated.
Vassilev said: “I think this protest is currently illegal. It’s a shame that 2024 is the year that someone wants censorship. Is this our country? Have we come to this? After 100 years, storming the National Theatre. That’s unheard of.”
Protesters also attacked well-known director Teodor Ushev, who was leaving the building. He was pelted with various objects and chased through the streets around the theatre.
Ushev told BNT: “I come to watch a performance, and the police in a legal state are obliged to ensure access to the performance for every citizen.
“There has to be a cordon. This cannot happen in a normal European country. I may be of their opinion.
“I may not like the show, I want to see what it is. I didn’t say anything and some lumpen here stop me and beat me and hit me.
“Is this democracy, is this the rule of law, is this the right of reply, is this the right to vote? Is this how things will happen in this country? For me, this is an absolutely fascist country. Tonight is Kristallnacht in Bulgaria. Remember it. And what awaits us is very scary,” Ushev said.
Bulgarian news agency BTA reported that during an October 29 news conference ahead of the premiere, Malkovich said he was only interested in doing good theatre and believed that Arms and the Man is a very good play.
He staged it on Broadway in 1985 and remembered it to be an amusing and touching text.
Malkovich said that two years ago in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna he played an Austrian serial killer who also happened to be a journalist, which did not mean than all journalists or all Austrians are serial killers.
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