On the 28th, 29th and 30th of April on the Main Stage of National theatre ‘’Ivan Vazov’’, the premiere of ‘’Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” by Tom Stoppard, directed by Boyan Kracholov will take place.
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” is, in fact, a grim comedy – and, I believe, has carried a prophetic image of our current world situation for almost sixty years.” - shares the director.
The play is an intellectual comedy that, through wordplay, jokes, absurd "scientific" speculations, and poetic digressions, explores themes of fate, chance, and free will. The story unfolds from the perspective of two secondary characters from Hamlet, lost in a plot whose rules they do not understand. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern desperately try to take control of their own life trajectories—testing probability theory in a game of coin flips, pondering the laws of nature, and "rationalizing" chaos through a series of absurd syllogisms and conclusions in search of any pattern or objective foundation upon which to build identity, direction, and meaning.
Boyan Kracholov is one of the most intriguing contemporary theatre directors in Bulgaria. He won the ASKER Award (2017) in the "Rising Star" category for the production This Is NOT Hamlet and was nominated for the ASKER Award (2021) for Contemporary Bulgarian Playwriting for The Coin. In 2024, he won an IKAR Award for Directing for The Petrovs in and Around the Flu. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead marks his debut on the Main Stage.
Other news from Ivan Vazov National Theatre:
