Kamelia Nikolova
Papers of BAS, Humanities and Social Sciences
Vol. 2, No 3-4, 2015
THEATRE
THEATRE EXPRESSIONISM IN BULGARIA: GEO MILEV
Kamelia Nikolova
Abstract: Geo Milev (1895-1925) is not only a brilliant expressionist poet and publicist from the first quarter of the last century, but also one of the founders of theatre avant-garde in Bulgaria. In 1918 in his study Theatre Art he declares an overall radical project for renewal and transformation of the Bulgarian theatre through its “re-birth” as expressionistic. Throughout the several following years the author persistently pursues the accomplishment of this project, till his early death in 1925. The reformatory ideas declared by him in his program study could be defined as an original manifestation of the Geist-trend in theatre expressionism, influenced by the conditions of the local stage practice.
The article analyzes the list of playwrights and plays, through which Geo Milev intends to implement his expressionistic theatre project and discusses his debut staging of the Strindberg’s Dance of Death as a first step to its realization.
Key words: Theatre, theatre avant-garde, theatre expressionism, Geo Milev, Bulgarian theatre avant-garde, Bulgarian theatre expressionism, Strindberg, first Bulgarian director, drama of rhythm, expressionist performance