Days of Bulgarian culture in Moscow

Around “Nirvana”: meeting with the classic of modern Bulgarian literature Konstantin Iliev

On September, 5 in the framework of Moscow International Book Exhibition and Fair in All-Russian Exhibition Center, Conference hall № 3 at 1.00 p.m. there will the meeting with the classic of modern Bulgarian dramaturgy Konstantin Iliev called “Around “Nirvana”.

The meeting will be hosted by Michael Shvydkoy, Russian playwright Victor Slavkin and theatrical critic Marina Dmitrievskaya.

Marina Dmitrievskaya who has published a collection of plays of modern Bulgarian authors will open the meeting and speak about particularities of Bulgarian dramaturgy, then Maya Promotarova (USA) will introduce Konstantin Iliev.

Dramatic art of 3 decades works of Konstantin Iliev is considered to be one of the greatest achievements of Bulgarian literature of the XX century. His plays were staged in Austria, Great Britain, Estonia, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Slovakia etc. Konstantin Iliev has received a number of state drama awards, the international Herder Prize of 1996 for overall achievement, the Helikon 2003 award for new Bulgarian prose writing and the Elias Canetti Literary Prize 2005.

In Russia Konstantin Iliev will introduce his most famous play “Nirvana”. A part of this play will be staged by Russian actors.

The stage action of this play, from the first exchange between the Man and the Woman, to the last fatal shots with which they put an end to their lives, takes up ninety minutes. He is a talented poet involved in the national and social struggles in Macedonia at the beginning of the twentieth century (problems which are topical once again, at the beginning of the twenty-first century); she is an emancipated young woman, the daughter of a former Prime Minister. Moments of love alternate with moments of hate, attraction — with estrangement, demands for total dedication - with the desire to retain one's personal independence. She is jealous of his past and his deep love for a seventeen-year old girl who died tragically in Paris and to whom he has dedicated a book of love poetry to enormous acclaim; and she is jealous of his present status of being idolized by the young. It takes 90 minutes from the first words to the lethal shot. The double suicide at the end of the play is at once unexpected and logical. The play is built upon documental materials about the relationship between the Bulgarian poet Peyo Yavorov and his wife Lora Karavelova.

After performance of a part of the play there will be the meeting with the “live classic” of Bulgarian dramaturgy, readers will have the opportunity to address questions to Konstantin Iliev. Moreover, the unique photos and videos fron the personal archive of the playwright will be shown during the meeting.

Organizers of the event: the International association “Live classics”, Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications

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